Mentors and Old Friends
by ShadowX116
Summary: What if one Sangheili had chosen to train rather than kill a human? And what if that human had a secret that even she didn't know about? What will become of these two as their factions continue fighting each other?
1. Chapter 1

This story is mainly a what-if situation which will become clear rather quickly. I intend on finishing it as a full novel, and getting better at my writing skills. Some teachers and students liked the first few pages, so I posted here to get even more input.

Please leave me a review! Every suggestion made and feedback given will help me greatly as I continue writing this twisted Halo fanfic! :D

Some 'chapters' will seem rather short and some will be longer because they aren't exactly chapters yet, but they might turn out this way in the end. Anytime you see an oo00oo, the view of the story changes or a time skip occurs.

There may be some referrances to canon characters, but most of them are ones I have made myself. Zhar is the name of one of Thel's crew members and close friends, however, the Zhar in my story is entirely different.

Comments, ideas, suggestions, all are welcome if you leave me a review! Please and thank you! :D

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><p>A small girl, no older than six years, wandered around her home in the dark of night. She had only been there for five months, but she knew all of the trees, plants, and most importantly, hiding places, by heart. Nighttime was her favorite time. For about an hour each night, she'd explore around the premises for fun. She was a Spartan in training after all, part of a new military experiment. So why not have some fun after her long hours of practice? She didn't really care about the exercises. She could take them and never complained. When she was told to do something, she did it that moment. If she fell, she was back up in an instant. When asked for assistance, she was there as if she'd been waiting to be asked.<p>

This girl, obedient, open-minded, and friendly; never asked for help herself, never protested, and never gave up. Tonight, she and her small division of trainees had a task to finish. That task was grabbing a flag from the back of the compound before the other teams, and without being caught by their trainers, the guards of the flags. The girl slipped easily from one shadow to the next, avoiding the light of the full twin moons high in the sky above her. She spotted the guard from under the Honeysuckle bush. He was half asleep and uninterested in his post. She crept into the shadow of the jeep next to the target, and waited. She stayed still, losing her sense of time, and then the guard finally fell asleep.

She waited for him to start snoring before she moved. She crept slowly and silently, keeping one eye on the guard, the other on the flag. She slipped under the low table the guard was resting his feet on, took a last look at him, and then swiped the flag off the top. She smiled and crawled back to the shadows of the jeep. She heard something behind her and stopped in the middle of tying the flag to her left wrist. The guard was shifting, and waking up. She had to act fast, as he would see the flag was missing.

She dove under the jeep's gears. "Who's there?" The rumbling tone of the guard was enough to make her shiver slightly. She was glad to have the jeep between him and her, but she knew there was little time before he would check the jeep, and there was nowhere to run without risking being seen. With no other choice, she focused on a large bush against the fence on the other side of the parking lot, pulled herself into a crouch, and then ran.

Moonlight washed over her face. It nearly blinded her, making her run faster to avoid being caught. She was surprised to find herself at the bush so quickly without having made much noise at all. She squirmed under the bush and through the hole in the fence behind it. She kept running down a dark, overgrown path deeper into the forest. She slowed and crept among the massive Spider-leg trees toward where her team was supposed to be waiting for her. _Poor Katelyn_, she thought as she got closer. She had no idea she was right behind her until the flag waved over her shoulder.

"Looks like you were right to send her, Katelyn," Sally commented as she giggled a little from the shock on Katelyn's face.

"I guess so." She turned to look at the flag carrier. "Now I know why your nickname is Shadow. We didn't know you were here until, well…"

Sarah grinned. "I make the most of my skills to live up to the title Shadow."

Sally broke in, "The guards will look for us, and we have over twenty four hours left on our mission still. We should get moving while we can." Katelyn nodded and took the lead, followed by Sally, then Sarah, and finally, Wolf. Wolf had been transferred to the group only two days before and so far, only Sarah had really welcomed him. The girls had heard rumors about him being transferred from other groups for fights, and how he would always win those fights no matter how big, strong, or fast the other kid was. She let the memory fade in her mind. There were more important things going on at the moment. The tree trunks grew thinner as they walked deeper into the forest, and the loud call of Kakau birds rang in the air as they hunted the Cicada bugs.

When they got to the trunks just thin enough, Katelyn ordered the team to climb. She went first, followed by Wolf, then Sarah. Sally was halfway up when the guards' voices and flashlights were moving towards their area. Sarah reached back down while Wolf held her ankles. Sally reached for her hand, but hesitated. She slid back down the trunk and purposely ran loudly through the undergrowth away from both groups. The guards heard her and gave chase, oblivious to the three in the tree.

With saddened faces, the three jumped from branch to branch until they got within sight of Crystal River. Wolf jumped down first to look around, and then motioned for the girls to follow when it seemed safe. They found a stump covered with moss; the dirt on one side washed away with seasons of flooding. The result was two feet of exposed roots creating a little cave of wood and dirt. Sarah crawled in and curled up near the entrance, too tired to care where she slept.

When she was sure Wolf and Katelyn were asleep, she pulled a necklace out of her shirt and let it fall back on her chest. The amethyst crystal had ten points in a circular shape. The hole in the center allowed the loop tie to safely grip it. She picked up the crystal again and gazed at it glittering in the moonlight. The strange shades of violet that appeared felt eerie, but comforting at the same time.

Another memory surfaced in her mind; the face of an old man. She called him Uncle Bill, though he wasn't family. He had taken her in one harsh winter when she was only three years old. She closed her eyes and allowed the memory to pull her deeper into the calm of sleep, and began to dream.

"Better now, little one?" A rough, but kind voice and the smell of warm cocoa made her eyes clear. She nodded her thanks and sipped the drink. "Well, you can stay as long as you like. That storm out there is mighty bad, and the pup doesn't seem to mind you much." He smiled as the gray wolf pup pawed and sniffed Sarah's leg. She giggled and petted her. The old man set the cup in the sink, and the dream faded to darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

Can we call this chapter 2? I suppose so. Really, whenever you see oo00oo, you can call it a chapter. Mainly it's there to indicate a view change or a time skip.

Enjoy the story! :D

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><p>The beast snapped its jaws at him, closing inches from his heel. He ran faster, thinking his lungs would burst if he didn't stop, but knowing if he did, the beast would catch him. He tripped over a root in the ground and landed hard on his left side. The jaws closed around him, and everything went dark. He jolted upright in bed, hearts pounding, and took a minute to realize it had all been only a nightmare. He looked at the clock next to his bed. 12:45 A.M. He hadn't even had three hours of rest yet. He lay back down and tried to sleep, but the feeling of dread was starting to become overwhelming.<p>

Zhar Asumee opened his eyes to what seemed to be only minutes later to see the metallic ceiling of his quarters. He glanced over at the clock on his table to see the time. _07:30. Time to get up._ "Hey, Sleepyhead, you're going to miss your ride if you don't hurry up!"

Zhar chuckled to himself. _Of course it would be Finn._ "Just a moment," he said as he sat up. After putting on his gold Zealot armor, Zhar walked with Finn down to the docking bay.

"You sure you want to check this planet? Scans didn't detect life forms here in the past." "According to my report, there has been movement on the surface, Finn. I want to know what's down there."

Zhar Asumee was an experienced explorer. Finn Lyrkamee was his childhood friend who had decided to tag along in the exploration career. If their shipmates didn't know better, they'd think they were brothers. Unlike Zhar, Finn was less eager to go to strange planets. When he was young, he was the target of the older kids to taunt and beat him. He'd been jumpy his whole life, which is why he stuck with one of the few Sangheili he'd ever trusted.

After checking the supplies and making final preparations, Zhar, Finn, and their friend Ytol Valsamee took a Phantom to the surface of the alien planet. Zhar chose to land in a grassy clearing at the edge of the dense woodland. After a last minute scan, the trio left their tiny purple ship and began exploring the area. Finn was comparing plant scans with those recorded over three decades earlier, not finding anything much different. He caught himself several times just staring at the hues of red, blue, pink, purple and white flowers dotting the fields and moss. Zhar started wandering further away from the group than he should have after discovering bent grass leading to the woods. _Now what caused this? No signs of life here my rear…_

Before stepping into complete cover, he looked to the sky. The tiny sun provided just enough heat to make the planet cool and relaxing. It was just past dawn, so he had a while before he had to report back to the main ship. He hoped he would find something here, as his Shipmaster wasn't the most understanding when it came to wasted time and resources.

He patted his sides, making sure his Plasma Rifle and Energy Sword were attached to his belt. He didn't think he would have to use them, but it was better to be safe than sorry. He remembered his own mistakes when he didn't properly prepare before. The long jagged scar on his right arm was clearly visible after so many years.

He snapped out of his memory lane trip when he heard a small rustling a couple yards ahead of him. He crouched and tried to see what it was that was hiding in the bush. Seconds later, a little fluffy red animal hopped out of the bush with some kind of seed in its mouth. _A Red Squirrel? How'd it get here?_ Before he could move closer, the little red creature was up a tree and out of sight. Zhar shrugged it off. Whatever bent the grass was much bigger than a tiny squirrel.

He wasn't sure how far he'd walked, but the sun was high in the sky by the time he stopped to eat a snack and take a drink from his canteen. The temperature hadn't changed much which was perfectly all right with him. As he took a sip of water, he heard more rustling. This time it was something bigger. He quickly put his supplies in his pack and snuck towards the noise. He parted the top of the bush and looked through to see a beautiful blue river and three little aliens sitting near the edge. He could barely hear them, though it didn't matter since he didn't understand the language.

Judging by their size and higher-pitch voices, he guessed they were young children, one male, two female. _What are these heretics doing out here alone? No matter._ He reached for his rifle, but stopped. His mind was already reeling with more questions about this species. Maybe he could get their attention, perhaps even get one to follow him.

In his thinking, he hadn't noticed the collection of twigs that snapped under his foot as he shifted. In an instant, three pairs of eyes were focused on him. Thinking on the spot, he decided to go with a slightly curious expression and move slowly through the bush. Half way through, he stopped as the three aliens stood, fear on the borderlines of their eyes, but also curious of him. Now that he had their attention, he needed to get one to follow him. Giving a faked bored expression, he stepped back and headed for the clearing. He kept walking, smiling a little when he heard faint footsteps behind him.

oo00oo

Sarah awoke to the creamy light of predawn. Looking over, she saw Wolf and Katelyn still asleep. She got up and took a good look around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She crawled back under the stump to wake her friends. Wolf yawned and sat up, though Katelyn was being stubborn. "No…I don't want to…" Katelyn rolled so she would face away from Sarah and the sunrise.

"Come on, Katelyn. Just because we're not at the base, doesn't mean you can sleep in." She finally got her to sit up, not without plenty of resistance.

After another look around, they found a Black-Eyed Berry bush and ate some of the sweet black and purple berries. When they had eaten their fill, they walked to the bank of the river to wash their hands. Sarah let her hands float in the river. She loved the feel of that liquid silk flow through her fingers. The soothing thought was interrupted by Kate, who was eyeing Wolf suspiciously. "I don't trust him at all."

"Why would you distrust him," Sarah asked. "He hasn't done anything wrong."

Kate then glared at her. Even though she had to admit Sarah had valuable skills, she didn't like her either because of them. "Oh, so we should just automatically trust everyone that wanders across our path? Do you have mud for brains?"

Sarah wasn't going to let Katelyn drag her into an unnecessary fight. "No, I'm just saying-" her words were cut short and Katelyn lost her temper and shoved her into the river. This wouldn't have been a problem except maybe catching a cold, but Sarah had never learned to swim.

Sarah fought to find the surface. One moment was all she had to spit out the dark water and gulp in a breath of air before going under again. She kicked and flailed as her lungs screamed for air, and panic tightened its grip. She finally gave in, feeling numb all over. It wasn't until air flowed across her face that she realized someone was pulling her to shore. She was dragged backward onto the bank to where she could sit up. She bent over slightly, feeling sick to her stomach, and felt pounding on her back which made her expel the remaining river water.

"Thank you," she said in between coughs.

"You're welcome." She turned to see Wolf drenched in water, Kate standing further behind him with a look of shock on her face.

"I am so sorry! I don't even know why I shoved you in." Sarah was shivering too much to answer, even with the sunlight beginning to dry her. They spent most of the day by the river, thinking it'd be fun to sneak back into the camp at night. By late afternoon, everyone was dry and in a good mood.

As they prepared to leave, Sarah started feeling strange. It was as if something was missing, and someone was watching them. "You guys hear that?" Wolf immediately looked around and listened.

"Hear what?"

"Exactly; where'd all the birds go?" A twig snapped behind them, and they instantly turned around to see a very large alien. He stood roughly seven feet tall, and wore shiny golden armor. His giant emerald eyes stared back at their small brown eyes for a few moments. The alien stepped forward, but stopped as they took a step back. He opened his four-mandible mouth, as if to speak, but closed it instead. He tilted his head slightly and walked back the way he came from.

"Let's get out of here before he decides to come back," Kate said as she ran for the trees towards home. Wolf turned and followed her. Sarah turned to leave as well, but she stopped as curiosity began sparking in her. She ran towards the bush and peered over the edge to see the alien walking along Park's Path towards the Sea of Flowers.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter: 3

Zhar walked back on the dusty path towards his Phantom, positive that one of the children was following him carefully and quietly. He slowed his pace slightly, and heard the slight change in the child's pace as well. _Hmm…_,he thought to himself, _good tracking skill, but not enough to save it._ He changed his direction. Instead of going to the Phantom, he walked slightly right of the path to a grassy cliff. He stopped a few feet from the edge and looked up at the dimming sky. The few stars there were glowing brightly. A few moments later, he heard the grass rustle slightly next to him. He looked to see the dark-haired female had followed him. She was also looking at the sky, enjoying the sight of those beautiful diamond lights embedded in pink velvet.

She turned to him as he crouched next to her, her eyes looking into his asking a thousand questions at once. A buzzing on his wrist dragged his attention away from her, and he pressed the button activating the communications link. "Yes?"

"Zhar, where have you been? We've been looking for you all day." Finn was not pleased at all he had wandered off without saying anything.

"You will see when I get back."

"We need to leave _now_. The Shipmaster is becoming impatient."

"Alright, I'm coming back now." He switched off the link and got up. He noticed the girl was following again as he got back to the path, but kept walking.

After about fifteen minutes of walking along shortcuts he found, Zhar thought he'd heard something. He stopped and focused on the noise. He heard the growls and roars of his friends fighting. He took off down the path as fast as his legs could carry him. He took one step into the clearing and froze. Ytol had been thrown into a tree and his closest friend was under the claws of a large scaly creature. Its long neck and tail, he saw, could easily coil around anything and snap it in an instant. Its four scaly legs were as big as Zhar was wide. Horror overwhelmed him when he realized this was the creature that had chased him in his nightmares.

Zhar was too busy thinking to see the green vines moving in the tree next to him. One of the thicker vines shot out tied in a lasso knot. The loop closed around the creature's mouth and shut it before it could take a bite out of Finn. Zhar turned and saw the girl tie her end of the vine around the trunk of the tree. The creature saw her as well and lumbered toward her. The child quickly pulled and tied another thick vine and waited. Just as the creature ducked under a branch to strike her, she jumped on its head, looping the second lasso over the first. The creature walked backward shaking its head and trying to fling her off. She jumped into another tree and tied the second vine to it tightly.

Zhar finally came to his senses and ran over to Finn. He was lying flat on his back with small tooth marks in place of the armor that was supposed to protect his left shoulder. He was barely breathing. Zhar picked him up and carried him well away from the creature to Ytol, now out of the tree. The girl wandered over and started to inspect Finn's wound. Ytol glared and moved to stop her. "No, let her look, Ytol. I think he may have been poisoned. If he has, maybe she can help."

The girl looked a little closer. Slizard mouths were big, but held small teeth. Judging by Finn's lack of movement and the skin around the bite turning bright violet along with his blood, she guessed he'd been bitten long before they got there.

She got up and started collecting some of the bright blue and purple flowers. Zhar looked back to his friend. The wound was getting worse, spreading across his shoulder. The girl came back to them with a leaf in the shape of a cup. A curious indigo liquid filled it halfway. She offered it to Finn, who promptly turned away from the smell of the crushed plants. She tried again, and he still refused. The third time, she didn't give him a choice. She poured the contents of the cup into Finn's mouth, and held his mandibles shut as he started thrashing. Zhar got back-handed and Ytol fell back from a kick to the gut within the first few seconds. The girl had planted herself firmly on one knee and wouldn't budge.

Finn's thrashing faded after a few moments, and he was released when he started breathing normally. Zhar moved back to him. "Finn, are you alright?" Finn opened his eyes and pulled himself up to sit.

"I think so." He coughed a little. "That drink had a horrid taste though."

Zhar handed him a canteen of water and replied, "Most medicine does, Finn." He saw the skin around the bite turning back to its normal purple-brown color.

Zhar turned around and spotted the child collecting moss off of a rock, uncomfortably close to the Slizard. The creature saw her too, and pulled its head from side to side, pulling the trees inward. Zhar got up and tried to get to her, but he didn't even make it halfway across the clearing before the trees fell on her and the Slizard. When the dust had settled, he started pulling on the branches. He hadn't expected her to survive, but he wasn't going to leave her buried with that thing. He pulled a branch away and saw part of the Slizard's head in an odd shape and dripping green blood. This beast would not stir again.

More branches were pulled, but revealed nothing else. He sighed and turned away from the wreckage. As he stepped away, something wrapped around his ankle. A chill went up his spine, thinking the Slizard was actually still alive. When he looked down, he realized it was a small pinkish hand, not a green tail. He turned back to the branches and moved enough away to pull her out. The first thing he noticed when he sat her down was the bright red color on her right cheek. Two angled parallel lines connected by a third in the opposite angle. They were trickling what he assumed was red blood. He'd only seen blood of that color once before from the Jiralhanae.

The second thing he noticed was the fist-full of green moss she had in her left hand. When he looked at her face again, she was smiling gratefully, then friendly as Ytol approached with Finn. She gave most of the plant to Finn, and showed him how to put it on the bite marks. She took a small piece for herself and used it to stop the bleeding on her face.

"Zhar," Ytol started, "Where did you find her?"

"She was with two others upriver. I was curious," he admitted, "I allowed her to follow so I could see if she was willing to let me learn about her."

Ytol sighed. "Ever curious Zhar…" He'd gone with Zhar on several other expeditions. This wasn't the first time he'd seen Zhar bring back something new. "I don't know how the Shipmaster will react. We'll be lucky if he doesn't have us shot."

"I think we're lucky, Ytol, that he  
>hasn't had us killed in our sleep yet with all the field trips we take." They both chuckled at the thought.<p>

They looked back over to Finn. He was playing a number game with the girl. He held pebbles in one hand and drew a simple addition problem with the other. In front of the addition sign, he placed one pebble and nothing behind the sign. The girl drew a vertical line behind the equal sign. "One," Finn stated in his language, and was somewhat surprised when she repeated it to him almost perfectly. He added another pebble, and she drew a curve with a line under it. This went on until her answer was a vertical line with an oval next to it.

This time he drew a quick picture of a sun with a circle next to it. He made a dotted line that made it seem the sun orbited the circle. The girl thought about the image, then drew the number one and three letters behind it. "One day," Finn said. He redrew the picture so the circle orbited the sun. The girl responded with the number one and four letters.

"One year," Ytol asked.

Zhar stopped Finn from erasing the image. Behind the circle orbiting the sun, he made a rough drawing of the girl. She responded with the number six and the same four letters from before plus a new one. The new letter looked similar to the new mark on her face.

"She's only six years old," Ytol asked, surprised. "Who sends out a six year old into a forest with those giant things running around?"

"Someone who knows how smart she is," Zhar replied. He erased the image indicating year, leaving the image of the girl. She hesitated, thinking about it. Five letters were drawn behind the image. Zhar made a motion around his throat, and the girl said, "Sarah". He repeated the word, his mandibles having some difficulty in forming it. He pointed to himself then his friends in turn, saying their names Zhar, Finn, and Ytol. She repeated the names back with little difficulty.

Zhar smiled. In one short day, he'd found the heretics he was supposed to fight, learned some of their numbers and letters, and even the name of one of them. An even better thought was of a device sitting in his quarters that could be attached to part of his helmet so he could understand different languages. The Prophets had recently developed it from their Forerunner technology and had given him permission to test it.

Zhar's high spirit came back down when he felt buzzing on his wrist again. The Shipmaster spoke when he answered. "You're out of time, Zhar. Bring whatever you've found to me at once!" The communication was over before Zhar could blink.

They quickly packed up the few supplies still on the ground, and then discussed what to do. "We can't possibly bring her," Ytol started, "She's one of them! If the Shipmaster kills her, who's to say we won't be next?"

"If we don't take her with us, the Shipmaster will think we have wasted his time," Finn countered. They both turned to Zhar. He was the team leader, therefore the decision was his. The thought about the possibilities and consequences, then turned to look at the girl. She was still playing the number game, but seemed a little sad to be alone.

Zhar turned back to his friends. "We will ask her. If she comes with us and the Shipmaster doesn't want her, I will bring her back."

"What if he reaches for his sword, Zhar?"

Zhar didn't answer for a moment. "I will worry about that, Ytol." He turned to Sarah and called her name. She instantly looked up, alert and ready. He nodded toward the Phantom with a question in his eyes. Curiosity swelled in hers again as she followed them to it. Keeping her hands to herself, she looked around the small ship at all the controls, panels, and shiny purple metal. She turned around when Zhar tapped her shoulder. He pointed to her and drifted one hand toward an empty seat, the other toward the exit. It was a choice to leave or stay with them. He was asking her what she wanted to do, which was a choice she hadn't had in months since the military had taken her. She sat in the empty seat. Zhar smiled and buckled a safety belt around her waist. She had made her choice.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter: 4

"You're absolutely sure?"

"Yes, sir, she was with us when we left the river, but we didn't realize she wasn't with us until we got to the edge of the compound," Wolf said.

"We backtracked to go find her," Kate added, "but we didn't get too far since it was dark, so we came to find you." She sighed, "I'll feel terrible if the alien got her."

"Alien? What alien," Sergeant McTavish asked. A worried looked on his face accompanied the question.

Kate started getting concerned about that look and answered, "There was something in the forest near the river." She described what had happened when the alien showed up, and what he looked like.

When she was done, McTavish stayed quiet for a few minutes. He picked up their flag and put it in a locker with other flags and objective items. "Both of you to your bunks," he finally said, "You both need your rest."

"What about Sarah," they asked.

McTavish thought a moment more. "You're both excused from morning exercises tomorrow. I want you both to take me to where this all happened during that time." Kate and Wolf walked back to their bunks and fell into uneasy sleep. McTavish walked over to the window and looked up at the bright twin moons hanging in the sky. He wondered just how much he would find in the morning, or how he would explain to his superiors that a simple flag game had made them lose a potential Spartan.

The following morning, Kate and Wolf were woken up a little earlier than the others. They led McTavish alone out the back gate and followed the river up to where they were yesterday. About an hour later, they found the area as it was left. They inspected the bush and saw only a little breakage on the closest side, and a spot twice that size on the far side. McTavish knew from experience, "She must have followed it. There's no way it could have grabbed her from all the way by the river and through this bush without leaving a large amount of breakage on both sides." Neither one could believe what he was saying. They hadn't thought she was curious enough to wander into potential danger.

On the other side of the bush, they found two sets of tracks in the dust. They counted themselves lucky it hadn't rained the night before. They followed the tracks down the path, found the bent grass on the cliff, and followed it back towards the Sea of Flowers. The first thing they saw was the remains of some blue and purple flowers crushed on a rock and a curled leaf near it with some dark liquid clinging to it. Wolf walked over towards the two fallen trees while Kate and McTavish looked at the liquid on the leaf. He pulled some of the branches aside and caused more to fall down, revealing the rest of the Slizard head. He jumped back in surprise, and then calmly called Kate and the Sergeant over when he saw it was dead.

McTavish walked over with Kate. He immediately saw some of the tied vines around the snout of the Slizard and on what was left of the tree trunks. "She made these knots," he said half to himself. He knew this style was one of Sarah's top knot types.

"What was on the leaf," Kate asked.

"It was an antidote to Slizard venom," McTavish replied. "Something she knew how to make quite well, apparently." He wrinkled his nose at the leaf. "It's quite strong…perhaps she was in a hurry when she made it."

Another look around the clearing showed there was a struggle, but no blood except the Slizard's. McTavish sighed. There was nothing else they could do to find her. He took Kate and Wolf back to base and gave them the day off. He sat at the computer in his office and began to type. As he typed up the letter to his superiors, he hoped that wherever S-116 had been taken, she was alright.

oo00oo

Sarah took a data pad out of her pocket. She always had it with her in case she found the free time to study. Its shiny screen served as a sort of darkened mirror. She could tell from the way the S-shaped cut on her face was healing that it would scar. She shrugged the thought away and switched the small device on. From the files list, she chose the one with Slipspace drive designs from texts and a few of her own she toyed with. When anyone walked by, she kept the pad hidden and acted like she was asleep. By the time she felt the small ship land, she had added two more designs to her collection of eight. When Ytol walked back into the room again, she tried to unbuckle the belt herself. Ytol stopped her, shaking his head. He motioned for her to stay put, picked up a bag near her, and left again. She fell asleep in the seat curled up.

A light tugging on her arm woke her up to what seemed to be a couple hours later. She looked up and saw Ytol's big gray eyes. He was unreadable to her. She never knew what he could be thinking or what he might do. He unbuckled the belt and stood her up on the floor. He grabbed a black cloak, draped it over her, and picked her up. The way the cloak fell on Sarah made her look like another bag of luggage. The small opening overlooking Ytol's left shoulder gave Sarah enough room to look through as he took her off the ship and into what looked like the main ship. As he crossed the hanger, Sarah saw several new species along with many like Ytol taking care of maintenance and supplies.

Ytol stepped onto a pad in the floor and was lifted up the anti-gravity field several floors to where Zhar and Finn were waiting. They walked into a gray and purple room where an alien like them wearing silver-white armor was sitting, waiting for them. He spoke to Zhar with a rough tongue, and was a bit curious when Zhar answered with a smooth tone. Sarah was finally sat down after a while of talking, and felt the hood being lifted off her head. The first thing she saw fully was the wide brown eyes of the Shipmaster. He slowly lifted his head back up to Zhar and said something to him in a quiet tone. Zhar was attaching a small device to his helmet and didn't answer the Shipmaster.

Sarah tried to analyze it from where she was. It was made of the same purple metal as many of the other things she had seen, and it was in a small rectangular shape, similar to a wireless headset placed on an ear. She heard a faint click as the device slid into place on Zhar's helmet. Zhar again motioned toward Sarah and made the same motion around his throat as before. "My name is Sarah," she stated. The device bleeped and began analyzing her language. A satisfying ping sounded when it had finished.

"Can you understand me now," Zhar asked. Sarah smiled, trying to hide her surprise. "Good. This is the Shipmaster, Tsak Zaramee, and you already know our names. Anything you say within range of this device will become understandable to everyone around you, so at least that's one less conflict." Sarah nodded, and turned to the Shipmaster. She greeted him politely, and commented on how bold and well-built his ship was, and how he must be one of the best to have command of such a wonderful vessel.

Tsak chuckled and replied, "Well, yes, those are true," as he indulged himself in the praise. Zhar, Ytol, and Finn exchanged smug looks with one another on how easily she'd gotten on the proud Shipmaster's non-existent good side, despite who she was. He turned to Tsak again. "How many of her kind are on this planet?"

Zhar responded, "The last scan after we got back read around five thousand. It seems as though this is only a colony."

Tsak thought a moment. "She appears to be very young and bright, Zhar. She is, however, one of them. She came with you willingly?" Tsak glanced at the girl. When she nodded, he continued, "Hmm… Since she is already on board I will talk to the senior Zealots. If they believe she's alright as well, I will consider speaking with the Prophets about this. It looks like that translator you're field testing will get more use out of it than we thought."

Zhar put his right fist in the center of his own chest and dipped his head. "Thank you, Shipmaster."

Tsak added, "Until we have decided, Zhar, you will be responsible for her. You will look after her and make sure she behaves. Keep her hidden and busy. There is no reason to let everyone on board know she's here yet. You may all go now."

Zhar picked the girl up as the Shipmaster went back to his work. She was placed over Zhar's right shoulder, and the hood slid back over her head. Again, Sarah was taken across hallways, up gravity lifts, and through massive rooms she could only guess the purposes of. Her chest began hurting from laying on it for so long, but she fought the urge to cry out. Zhar would be in a lot of trouble if she was discovered. She had already vowed herself she would do anything to prevent causing trouble for him.

Either Zhar could read minds, or had excellent timing. He opened a narrower door in a nice little corridor and finally let her down. She noticed Finn and Ytol had walked on as the door closed. Zhar removed the cloak, sat it on the bed, and looked at the time to see ten 'o clock at night. "Are you tired?" Sarah was already yawning, and rubbing one eye when he asked. Zhar smiled and laid her down on his couch. She curled up as he pulled a blanket over her and fell asleep within minutes. Suddenly feeling tired himself, Zhar crawled into bed not bothering to remove his armor. For the first time in a week, Zhar slept peacefully through the night.

He awoke the next morning at seven 'o clock. As he tried to get up, a sudden aching took over his body as his armor shifted with him. For a moment, he couldn't remember why he had left it on until his eyes fell on the lump on his sofa. He quietly got up to keep from waking her, and left his room. He walked down to the mess hall, grabbed some food, and joined Finn at one of the far tables.

"So I'm guessing you swiped extra fruit for her, right," Finn asked as Zhar sat.

"Well, I want to see what she likes. If she's going to stay for a while, she shouldn't starve in the process. Where is Ytol?"

"He was here earlier. He said he needed to check on something and left shortly before you showed up, Sleepyhead." Both Sangheili chuckled and spent the next half hour comparing previous missions, and mess-ups before heading back to their quarters.

The first thing Zhar noticed when he walked into his room was there was nothing on the couch. Then he heard muffled growls of annoyance coming from his bathroom. He sat the fruit on a table, and opened the door. There on the floor was Ytol with his hands and feet bound together with the blanket in a way he couldn't untie himself. A towel covered his mouth and eyes. "Well, this is… different," Zhar commented as he untied him.

Ytol glared at him. "She ambushed me! I don't know how she did it, but she tied me up and ran off."

Zhar heard rustling in the other room and sprang up to look. Everything was as he'd left it… except one of the fruits was missing. Something caught his eye on the floor. A small purple screw glinted in the light. He looked up and spotted the air vent with its bottom-left corner missing the screw. He stood on the couch, reached up, removed the vent plate, and poked his head into the metal structure. A pair of dark startled eyes peered back at him.

He sighed with relief and pulled Sarah out of the vent. "Care to explain?"

"I heard you leave this morning," she started, "The Shipmaster said to not let anyone know I was here, so I hid above the doorway with the blanket. I could tell from the way Ytol walked in that it wasn't you, but I wasn't at a good angle to recognize him soon enough." She hung her head. "I didn't know it was him until I heard someone else approach the room. I hid behind the couch and waited for you to walk into the bathroom so I could climb up to the vent."

She turned to Ytol and apologized for the mistake, who in turn stormed out of the room muttering under his breath. Zhar put a four-fingered hand on Sarah's shoulder. "He is an old and proud warrior. He is only angry he let his guard down." Then he grinned. "Now what happened to that Sunset fruit you swiped?"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter: 5

Jenna sat in the auditorium still rubbing her eyes. She, Tom, Nina, and Jake sat in the same row wondering why they were up at three in the morning when training usually started at five. They and the rest of the trainees looked up at the stage as McTavish walked across and stopped next to the projection screen. "I know it is earlier than usual, but this announcement is of great importance", he started. "Perhaps we should have told you before, however there is no changing the past. There is only preventing the future." He switched on the projection screen to show them a picture of a short, frog-looking alien holding a plasma weapon.

"This is an Unggoy, or what we call Grunts. They are also one of several enemies to the UNSC." The screen changed to a bird-raptor looking creature. "Kig-Yar or Jackals are sharpshooters with personal shields on their arms." Again it changed. It showed the four-mandible, six foot tall alien Kate had described in the forest. "These, in my opinion, are the worst of the bunch. Sangheili or Elites are the best of the best and show no mercy." This continued on for ten more minutes showing the Jiralhanae or Brutes, Mgalekgolo or Hunters, and the Yanme'e or Drones.

"These aliens are the reason you are here and training. They are waging war with us for an unknown reason, and we must be able to fight back by any means necessary. It is also my regret to say one of you has already succumbed to them. Recruit 116 is now missing, presumed dead. According to her team mates, a Sangheili took her away from the forest during the capture the flag exercise." Jenna felt her jaw drop in shock. She couldn't believe one of her friends could have been taken away so easily. She glanced at the rest of her squad and caught their clouded eyes filled with the same thought.

"As of now, the majority of your training will be done on camp grounds. Anyone caught outside the fence without a trainer's escort will receive severe punishment. You are also to report anything you see out of the ordinary. That includes plasma weapons, gear, and anything remotely suspicious. You may go back to your bunks. There will be no training for today." He signaled for the trainers to escort all the children to their bunks again. Jenna looked back at the sergeant and saw he was standing at the podium with his forehead resting in his palms.

oo00oo

It had taken three days for the _Spiritual Sacrifice_ to reach Sangheili space. In orbit around their home world was a ship twenty times bigger than it. "They want to see her now," Sarah heard Zhar ask.

"Yes," Tsak replied. "They are intrigued by how you worded your find."

Zhar walked back into the room with the cloak. "We will be arriving soon. You will be meeting with the Prophets."

"Who are they," she asked.

"They are the ones that interpret the will of our gods." She stared at him in confusion. He sighed. "There will be time to explain if the Prophets take well to you." He was confused when she looked away from him. He thought for a moment he'd seen a glimmer of sadness in those eyes, not just the sparkle of curiosity. "Do you miss your home?"

"I miss my friends. But I already made my choice, haven't I? I'm happy I did." She looked back up at him and offered a small smile. Zhar knew there was another reason, but he didn't ask.

About a half hour later, he draped the cloak over her and picked her up. He walked back to the ship he'd brought her on, and buckled her into a seat with the cloak still on. Finn and Ytol sat next to her. Zhar climbed into the cockpit and shut the entrances. The ship gently lifted away and maneuvered into space, then jolted as it glided through atmosphere. The ship docked, and through the cloth, she could just make out a similar vessel next to theirs as she was carried off. She assumed this was a docking bay on a much larger ship than the one before. She'd felt the jolt earlier, but this didn't look like a planet.

She wondered how much larger this place could be as she saw many aliens similar to the ones on board Tsak's ship, but then she saw one of the larger creatures covered nearly entirely in bluish-gray armor. Only a few places showed its orange flesh which looked like worms. Another looked almost like a pinkish-blue squid with six dark eyes on its worm-like head. It was fixing a control console.

Up another lift, the pressure on her chest was nearly unbearable against Ytol's shoulder armor, but she still held her tongue. She tried to keep still as Zhar spoke to what she guessed were the guards of the room and it wasn't long before they finally opened the door.

"Zhar Asumee. It is a pleasure to see you again."

"As it is to see you, Prophet of Virtue," he replied. The Prophet looked at what he assumed was a large, lumpy bag.

"What is this you have brought?"

"What I asked to see you for." Ytol stood her up and pulled the hood off. The Prophet's eyes widened in shock and anger when he saw what, or rather who, it was. The guards near him instantly were on alert, and pointed their bladed staffs at them. "You must have good reason to bring that here," he hissed.

"_She_ could prove to be valuable-," Zhar was cut off.

"Valuable," the Prophet exclaimed. It is a mere child of our enemy. What could she possibly do for us? You know better than this! Why did you not kill her on sight?"

"She was unafraid of me when I found her and she willingly followed. She also saved my landing party's lives. I believe she could be something different than the rest of her kind if given the chance to learn."

"Why should we allow this heretic to learn of our gods when her kind has already sinned beyond redemption?" Zhar glanced at Sarah, and was somewhat impressed with how she could hold her tongue and look unfazed, yet not defiant at the same time.

"As you said, she is only a child. What could she herself have done to offend our gods, being born? No one can choose how or where they first begin life. You know that as well as I."

Virtue refused to listen. "Guards, execute her. If they get in the way, kill them too." Ytol looked at his friend, and backed away. Zhar looked to the girl, but she was already backing up from the guards. He noticed something new in the gleam of her eyes; the same look he'd seen in many of his students.

Sarah sized up the two guards. Slightly taller than Ytol, much stronger than her, covered nearly head to toe in the glowing orange and black armor, and they were armed. _Not exactly the best odds._ She ran for the door they entered through, and heard them gaining on her quickly. She suddenly turned around and ran straight for the guard on the left, five feet away. He swung the long staff at her, she dodged and grabbed onto it. Quickly she climbed up it, jumped onto his neck as if riding a pony, and caught a grip on his helmet as he thrashed around.

The other guard mumbled something like "You've got to be kidding me," then raised his own staff. She ducked; his blade narrowly missed her head as she caught a grip on the first guard's shoulder. The next thing she knew, she was on the ground next to an unconscious Sangheili.

_What happened?_ She noticed the skin around where she gripped change from the bright violet back to normal purple. She'd hit something vital that knocked him out, but she didn't have time to stop and check on him.

The instant she got up, she saw the other guard balanced on one leg while raising and folding in the other. "Aw crud…"

He kicked out his armored hoof full force, catching her in the stomach. She half flew, half skidded across the floor, hitting the wall hard before sinking to the ground. Her eyes rolled in her head, trying to regain focus. She saw the guard approaching through the blur and tried to get up. Something was wrong. She coughed with pain and tasted copper in her mouth. She swallowed it back down. Her belly was extremely sensitive and ached as she stood.

Zhar felt his mandibles slacken in disbelief that she was still moving after that. Sarah ducked under the guards legs as the blade struck the ground behind her. She ran across the room towards the other wall with the guard following closely. She ran up part of the wall and back flipped in the air just high enough to go over his head. Her fist slammed the same spot on his shoulder, and the guard dropped to the ground with her, temporarily immobile, but conscious. She stumbled toward Zhar a few steps, then collapsed to the ground herself, breathing heavily.

Zhar jogged over to her as Ytol helped up the first guard. He gently rolled her over, seeing she was barely awake, and blood was seeping out of the corner of her mouth. He rolled the shirt up just enough to see the massive bruise on her gut turning purple, and then put it back.

"She's lucky her spine didn't snap from that kick," Ytol commented. Zhar looked up at Virtue again and saw the hint of fear still in his eyes.

"A mere child, as you said, just took down two of your guards. Are you sure she has no potential value to us?"

Virtue stiffened in his seat and glared defiantly at him. After a while, the guards were both on their feet and itching for a new fight. Virtue looked at his guards, then at the child. Even though she'd been injured severely, she'd won the battle. She was too small and quick for guards that size to grab, and so made a decision. If she managed to survive a Sangheili beating at the size and age she was, there was only one other sensible option. The option that made sure she wouldn't be used against them.

He turned to his guards. "Stand down. Zhar, what do you want done, then? You brought her here, so what do you want to achieve?"

Zhar relaxed only slightly. "I wanted to teach her our ways, show her how to fight, and that the ways of her kind are heresy. She couldn't have done anything in her short life to offend the gods, and all should have a chance to join the Great Journey, as the Covenant said to each of our races ages ago. I believe it has been made clear here her worthiness of her chance, do you not agree?"

The prophet only agreed that she had won her first fight by sheer luck and speed, though he kept that comment to himself. "Very well, Zhar. Since you're so intent on making this heretic see our beliefs, you are in charge of her. You will train her yourself, you will make her learn our language, and you will make sure she learns every detail of our beliefs. Anything less is unacceptable, is that clear?"

"Yes, High Prophet. I will make sure it is done." He bowed his head to the prophet as he did to Tsak earlier.

"Good. Now get her out of here. As soon as she is able, start her training. If anyone sees her, I do not care. Just tell them I gave express permission for you to watch her."

Zhar gingerly picked her up to avoid further damage to her, and walked out with Ytol draping the cloak over his shoulder. Immediately, the guards outside growled in an angered surprise to see her, but the two Sangheili kept walking. The walk back to the ship filled every step with hisses and growls, stares and glares from the other races of the Covenant that operated on this mobile planet.

"Heretic! Heretic!" The Unggoy chanted in the halls. Kig-Yar snickered behind their backs, and the Jiralhanae grunted in amusement of how long she would last here.

Finn was waiting in the pilot seat when they got back and gaped at the body. "Did they kill her?" He nearly jumped out of his skin when she moved, groaning quietly in pain. Zhar laid her on the seats and moved back to let Ytol treat the massive bruise with a soothing cream. She jolted as the ice cold cream put pressure on her stomach and squirmed a bit as it was rubbed into her skin. A few seconds later, it felt mostly numb and cool, and she allowed the dark of sleep overtake her again.

* * *

><p>Five chapters is all you get for now on this binge! :P At least until I get some reviews. Don't worry, if you like the story so far, I have plently more to share already. This marks the end of page 13 out of 33 with 23,000 words even at this exact moment that I'm typing this. I am actively writing the story at school whenever I have freetime... that's usually 34 of the class period I have free. There will be plenty of story left to share for quite a while yet. :)

If you don't like it, suggestions and feedback are ALWAYS welcome! :D Don't hesitate to tell me if I've made an error, or to ask if something is unclear. Boring? Help me add some spice! Other questions? Ask! :D I am a writer at heart and I will be here a while yet. My hope is to one day either purify this story or create a new one that is 100% mine and maybe make a bit of green on it. Well now, I guess I will have to improve my writing skills if I ever want to see that day. However, I can't do it without you, the reader's help. I need your input! Leave me some reviews please! :D


	6. Chapter 6

A bit longer this time to fit in two major parts. :P

GoG Toxic: "Virtue? The only Prophets in the duration of the war were Truth, Mercy, and Regret."

Yes, this is true, and I am working on several ways already to get out of that. I just never thought the Halo 2/3 Prophets would ever let something like this slide. Besides, that way I can't be accused of messing up personalities I didn't care enough to learn either. :P

Keep in mind, this is a twisted Halo FanFic. Even if I fix it, this is my realm to play in, and therefore, cannot be graded upon accuracy unless in referrance to the canon line. :3

Or maybe it can. It's up to you guys really. :P

Enjoy part 6 and leave me some reviews! :D

* * *

><p>Chapter: 6<p>

She awoke looking up at a stone ceiling. She no longer tasted blood in her mouth, and her belly had become a little less sensitive, although it was still that ugly brownish-purple color of a bruise. Rolling to the side of the bed, she sat up and looked around while rubbing the sand out of her eyes. There was a window as high off the floor as her torso to the left, and a massive wooden door to the right. The floor was smooth stone slabs, hand carved it seemed, just as the ceiling was. She gently slid off the bed, walked over to the window and climbed up to sit on the ledge. It was dawn, and below the rising sun was a massive, rolling sea with a boat port. The town buildings were made of stone, though some that seemed important were made of shiny purple or gray metal. Even the dam was made of the shiny material.

Just below the window a couple stories down was a courtyard, and what looked like a training area. She spotted Zhar walking up and down a line of Sangheili, and talking to them about something in his language. She watched them for a while as they were split by twos to practice basic blocks and attacks. Her stomach lurched as she saw one knock down his partner with the same kick that had put her down before.

In the middle of her thoughts, a four-fingered hand gently tapped her shoulder. She spun around, grabbing and pushing away the hand, and came face to face with a blue-eyed Sangheili a head shorter than Zhar. "Do not be alarmed. My name is Lira. My father told me to keep an eye on you while he trained his students." Sarah realized by the voice, Lira was a female and in her other hand was the translator that was on Zhar's helmet. She released her hand, and relaxed a bit, only to wince at the pain the sudden twist had caused her stomach.

"Let me take care of that." Lira walked over to a cabinet in the far corner, next to the door, and picked up a different container of cream. This one reminded Sarah of the smell of mint, and wasn't as cold as the other cream. This one soothed the bruise with a warm blanket and melted away the pain. "Now then," Lira continued, "Zhar said you liked Sunset fruit. Is that true?" She handed her the orange and purple fruit, and Sarah took a bite of the berry. The size and shape was like an orange, and as sweet as a peach. The skin was a mix of fading orange and pink-purple fuzz. The fruit under it was a faded dark pink.

Sarah nodded and said thank you to her. "Zhar is your father? How old are you?" Lira finished washing the cream off of her other hand.

"I am eighteen years of age and Zhar is forty-six. I finished my training just a few months ago. You're just about the right age to start yourself. Once you've healed that is." A moment passed in silence. "He told me what happened to you the other day. Those guards were only following orders. I can assure you I will do you no harm."

"But why," Sarah looked up at her. "Why do they hate me so much?" Lira didn't have an answer prepared for her.

"They're just… uneasy of outsiders. They will learn to accept you with time." Lira looked away from her. For most of her life, she'd heard about these heretic humans and how they'd taken apart Forerunner technology and abused it. An unforgivable sin… or so she once thought. The prophets took apart the same technology before, and yet they were not heretics, but the very leaders of the Covenant.

She looked at the girl in the window again. She was so innocent and oblivious of the war between their people. She'd been just like that before her own training. Lira snapped out of her thoughts when she remembered who was visiting today. "I have to go downstairs for a while. If you need anything, just come find me, okay?"

"Okay," Sarah answered. Lira left the room, and went down the stairs made of stone slabs to where the kitchen was, and began cleaning up.

As soon as she had left, Sarah pulled out her data pad and inspected it. It was surprisingly undamaged after her battle with the guards. She started taking notes about the Sangheili. What they looked like, how they behaved and fought, what they ate, and the list went on and on. After an hour, she'd listed everything she knew, including a short list of the names of the Sangheili she'd met.

She heard footsteps in the hallway and quickly put away the pad. The pattern wasn't at all like Lira's or Zhar's. She looked around the room for a hiding place. The cabinet was too loud to open and hide in, and the bed was built to lie on the floor. She climbed on top of the cabinet instead, and felt something give way above her back as it brushed the ceiling. That slab wasn't stone, but smooth wood. She tested the other nearby slabs quickly and found they were solid, and made of rock.

She climbed into the space above the wood and replaced it so only a sliver of light made it in. She peered out to see a new Sangheili in the room, followed closely by Lira. She asked the male something. He looked suspicious of her and the room. His armor was bigger and better than the guards' armor had been. It was mainly black and silver and covered everything except his mouth and eyes. Those amber eyes looked as if they had no pupils in the light he was in. She was terrified of him, not knowing what he could be thinking. Those ominous, evil eyes imprinted themselves in her memory.

They argued briefly before going back downstairs. Sarah remained hidden in the compartment above her room, feeling the pain in her stomach returning. She laid down belly up and tried not to move. She needed the cream, but could not reach it and would not call out to Lira while that male was in the house. She did her best to remain quiet as the pain tied her belly into knots. She was close to crying when she heard footsteps coming back. She put a hand over her mouth and heard the door creak open.

"Sarah, where are you?" Zhar's voice was the most wonderful thing she'd heard all day, but she still would not call out in case the other male was still around. Zhar looked around, thinking. His vision briefly passed over the cabinet, then looked at the ground by it. He walked over and slid a finger through the fine dust, then looked up to see the shifted slab. He reached up and moved the slab a little more so he could get a good enough grip to get up. He saw tears streaming down her face with her hand covering her mouth, and it nearly broke his hearts.

He carefully shifted her into his arms and dropped easily to the ground without hurting her further. He laid her on the bed and applied another layer of cream. "When will it go away," she asked. Zhar couldn't answer. That was a good question. Why hadn't it started to heal after two days?

"There's not much that can be done for bruises. I will have Ytol take another look in the morning." He handed her another Sunset fruit. "All you can do for now is keep your strength up, and get some rest." He moved the wooden slab back into place and left the room. Sarah finished the fruit, and left the others sitting in the bowl.

She woke up the next morning to find herself whimpering. Ytol was putting pressure on what looked like an ice pack on her stomach. "Stay still. I know it hurts, but I have to keep this here. Hopefully the swelling will go down."

She looked worried, and the pain started to cloud her mind again. "Am I going to die," she asked.

Ytol looked at her strangely for a moment then chuckled a little. "No, no, you're not going to die. There's no internal bleeding as I'd first thought. There's enough of a dark spot to make it look like it, though. Just lie still. You don't need to hurt yourself anymore as it is."

"Are you a doctor?"

"No, but I do know basic treatments. If you asked me to do open heart surgery, I'd look at you funny and say 'Well, why don't you know how to do that?'" he said grinning. Sarah giggled a little. It was comforting to see a sparkle in his eyes for once.

He lifted away the watery bag and put a towel in its place. Sarah peeled away her shirt from her stomach. The swelling had gone down from the day before, and the bruise was smaller and pink around the edges. She rolled the shirt back in place. Ytol came back and dried up the water. "I wasn't exactly impressed, but I give you points for speed and sharp eyes." He sat her up on the bed. "What do you know of combat?"

oo00oo

Jake glared at the closed gate and the guards near it. They were closely watched before, but this was ridiculous. The guards stared back at him, daring him to try something. He turned his back on them and went back over to the group. Tom, Kelly, Jenna, and Nina were all in a circle talking about what had happened.

"Why haven't they gone after her? They said she'd been taken, so why didn't they do something about it?" Jenna's hazel eyes darted between her team mates' faces in confusion.

"They probably don't know where she was taken," Kelly sighed.

"Maybe they do and just don't care. They haven't seemed to care so far," Jake answered.

"Maybe they killed her just to scare us," Nina scoffed. "Well I'm not scared."  
>Tom listened quietly to them going back and forth. Jenna not understanding, Jake upset, Kelly secluding herself and Nina acting tough like always. "That's enough." The others looked at Tom. "We will never get anything done like this," he said quietly. "She's gone somewhere we don't know. She might be alive or dead, but there is nothing we can do about it here or now. What we can do is get our act together and finish our training. Maybe one day we'll find out what really happened, but that day won't come if we aren't ready." The others nodded their heads in agreement.<p>

"The sergeant is coming over," Jake said.

McTavish had been watching them for a few minutes now. He stopped near them and glanced at each of their faces as they stood in a line. "At ease," he said as their arms fell. "If you all are planning something, now's the time to share it." The five stood in silence. "No? None of you have anything at all to say?"

Tom took a step forward. "Sir, regardless of anything we might be planning; there isn't much we can do on our own with the way things are now."

McTavish nodded, although he wasn't fooled. He knew they were capable of doing whatever they believed they had to. He watched Tom step back in line before answering. "That's true. I heard you all talking over here, and I also heard you want to finish your training, correct?" They all replied "Yes, sir." "And when you finish training, what do you plan to do?"

Jake stepped forward this time. "That isn't for us to decide, sir. That's a commanding officer's job."

Jake stepped back again and waited for his answer. McTavish looked them over again. "There may come a day where you will have to make that call yourselves, not another officer. All of you follow me." The sergeant walked inside and the group of children followed closely. The hallway was long, the floor polished, the walls a deep blue-grey. McTavish unlocked his office door, and sat in his chair behind the desk.

The kids filed in one by one in front of the desk. Jake shut the door and took his place at the end of the line. He saw the sergeant already had their records on his desk and was looking over them carefully. A few minutes passed. No one moved or spoke. Finally the sergeant looked up at them. "Tom, get up here, front and center." Tom complied, and stood at the middle of the line, directly in front of McTavish. "Your record says you've had a slow start on most of the training courses. Is that true?"

"Yes, sir, I never ran in right away like the others." "And why is that?" "Running in head first without knowing what you're getting into gets you hurt, sir. I look at what I'm facing and plan out what to do before I deal with it."

McTavish sat his record down. "And your team mates, Kelly and Nina, would you say they agree with your strategy?"

Tom didn't need a second thought. "They do not, but they listen because I know what's waiting three steps ahead of us."

Nina glanced at Kelly. What was this all about anyway? Why was the sergeant so interested in all of this now? Kelly looked at Nina just as clueless. Jake and Jenna were looking around the room from their spots in line.

"You may step back, Tom. Jake and Jenna, if you're done looking at the maps," he warned. They instantly looked back at the sergeant. "I'm taking you two out of Martin's group. From now on, you'll be with Kelly, Tom, and Nina. Tom, I'm putting you in charge of this team. The reason for this is we need the Spartans trained as quickly as possible, but this is the first time this program has ever gotten this far, and some parts haven't been tested yet. You five have one good reason to train harder and fight the Covenant now. Your training will be sped up and made more difficult so you can finish sooner and be better."

The five looked at him, surprised. "Your team will be called the Shadow Spartans. In addition to your normal training, we will train you to be silent, swift, and precise. If you get through that training, you may yet get your chance to look for our missing recruit. Your new training schedule will begin tomorrow morning. Dismissed," he said as he gathered up their records. The group took a minute more to look at each other, and one by one they walked back outside.

Once they had gone, McTavish shut the door and opened a communications tablet. A hologram of a dark-hooded man appeared on it. "It's done. Their training starts tomorrow. Are you sure this needs to be done?" The hologram nodded. McTavish sighed.

"If you cannot carry out orders, Sergeant, you will be replaced. There is no room for error or resistance in this project." McTavish felt his spine shiver from the whispery, ominous voice coming from the hologram.

"That won't be necessary."

"Good," the hologram said as he faded away.

Over the next decade, the Shadow Spartans trained long and hard. They learned how to fight, how to hide, and how to survive alone and as a team. No one could touch them if they didn't want them to. They slipped easily into the shadows without a trace, and overtook anyone that posed a threat to them in an instant.

They learned quickly, and came up with new ways around every puzzle and challenge presented to them, ways their instructors would never have thought of. Around the time they were sixteen, McTavish called them into the office once again. They stood before the sergeant, stronger, smarter, and faster than any of the other recruits.

"You wanted to see us, sir?" Tom's question shook him out of his thoughts.

"Yes, Tom, I wanted to see you and your team to say your training has concluded." The five smiled with pride. "However, there are still two parts to complete before we field test you. We're going to Zulu base for those parts." The other Spartans in training watched with curiosity and worry as they saw the team carried off in the jeeps leaving camp. Kelly looked back at them, trying to look as if everything was alright. Something nagged at her and told her she might never see those faces again.

About six hours later, near sunset, the jeeps pulled up to a hillside and parked. The team was confused. "I thought we were going to the Zulu base, sir?" McTavish walked over to one of the boulders.

"We are at Zulu, Kelly." He tapped a spot on the rock, and it moved aside like a sliding door. The team filed in after him, and the elevator descended deep underground. Eventually, they were let out into what looked like a science testing facility. There were cases of experimental suites made of what looked like chainmail, solid metal, and even rubber.

The team was moved to the end of the hallway, through a metal sliding door. In a row against the wall were five identical black suites. McTavish ushered the team into the next room. In a row in the middle of the room were several medical operation tables and unmarked containers.

"This is the first part," he said. "Augmentation will enhance you on the genetic level. If what I was told is right, you'll go beyond any limits you have now in strength, speed, even thinking ability."

Jake stared at him. "What's the catch?"

"The catch is it's an experimental chemical mix. The mix will be altering your muscles and bones, but we have no way of controlling how yet. Also, because of the nature of the changes, you'll all be sedated so hopefully you won't be in as much pain when you wake up as you would if we didn't."

"How long will it take," Tom asked. McTavish seemed to be getting a little nervous at this point.

"I don't know. Five maybe six hours is what I was told. We're on a schedule, and it would be better to get started now in case there are any incidents." Several doctors walked in and indicated to each Spartan which table was theirs. When Jenna started to black out from the sedative, she could have sworn the look on McTavish's face was worry as he left the room.

Jake woke up to the screaming pain in his left arm. He tried to roll onto his side, but found his other arm was strapped down. His ankles had been tied down as well. From what he could tell through the blinding pain, nearly half of the doctors were either holding him down trying to sedate him, or messing with his left arm. He managed to get a better look and saw it was twisted and puffed up awkwardly.

In that moment, a doctor had managed to apply another dose of the sedative, but it seemed to have no immediate effect as it did before. Jake felt his right arm move more. He gave a final tug, and the brace shredded. He tugged at brace of his other arm, but couldn't get a grip. Instead he started beating his arm with the free one, trying to numb down the pain. He thought he heard one of the doctors shouting at him to stop, but he didn't care. He couldn't stand the pain radiating from it.

His back started to prickle from one spot, then two, then five, and he noticed his arm was getting sluggish. He let himself lie down again, becoming dizzy. The doctors immediately tied down his right arm again. His vision started to darken, and to his right, he saw one of the doctors suddenly pulled away. His head rolled over, confused, and saw Nina pounding the poor man into the ground.

Nina hit the man in the white coat over and over. Whatever he'd done to her, it felt awful. Every movement was filled with pain. She wanted to see him pay for whatever it was he was doing. She was dimly aware that her team mates were still in the room and that they were in a familiar facility. What she could not comprehend was why they were there, who these men were, and what exactly they'd done.

Her limbs burned with every impact, and every reload of the punch. She punched him in the face, then twice in the gut. She punched him, ignoring the frightened shouts, and kept going until the man's coat started turning red. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the door slide open. Green and brown blobs were aiming something at her. She turned to face them when the door was half open. She stared a moment and saw the door seemed to move much slower than she remembered. Why was it moving so slowly?

The blobs took the shape of more people holding assault rifles. Another shout came from behind her, and the men, for a split second, showed a hesitation to put their fingers on the triggers. She leapt, and they scattered. They were running as fast as they could, but Nina caught up quickly to the group with little effort. Two were flung against the wall and another went through a glass container. The next unlucky marine was sent through the air vent above them. The last two were at the exit by now, kneeled and facing her with a different kind of weapon.

Standing between them was someone in a uniform. He was vaguely familiar, and stopped her rampage for a moment. He looked worried, and was saying something to her. _Nina_; she knew that word. She knew he'd said her name, but could not understand what else. One of the marines in front of him was holding a rifle aimed at her, and turned his head just enough to say something back to the uniformed man.

Another name materialized in her mind. "McTavish," she whispered, confused. The uniformed man relaxed slightly and walked over to her, ignoring the warning the marines gave him.

"That's right. You remember, don't you, Nina?" She recognized his voice again too, and the adrenaline faded, the rage gone. The burning had eased now that she was concerned with another matter. She towered over McTavish now. She was just his height when she walked in here before, and was now two full heads taller.

"Nina, you shouldn't be out here. It's not good for you right now. Do you understand?" Nina tried to process what he said. She understood her name, and she understood something was very wrong with her. McTavish said her name again along with other gibberish and pointed back to the room with her team mates. The same room with those people making her hurt. She glared back at her sergeant.

"Nina, they're there to help you. You have to go back there." She could hear the tone. He meant no harm, but he wasn't giving her a choice in the matter. She heard one of the marines say something, and saw her sergeant turn and shout like one of the people in the white coats did. The first stabbing pain hit her stomach. The second was slightly above it. The third and fourth landed in her right shoulder and left leg. She was on the ground, and hadn't realized she'd fallen. McTavish was kneeled over her asking her something, but she went under before she could answer.

McTavish walked into the room four hours later. He saw Tom first on the table closest to the door. He touched Tom's shoulder to wake him, but as soon as he touched him, Tom's left hand snatched up the sergeant's wrist. Tom opened his eyes, and instantly let him go. "Sorry, sir, I didn't break it did I?"

McTavish was rubbing his wrist after Tom let go. "No, no I don't think you did," he answered, wincing.

Tom looked at the rest of his team. Kelly was just waking up for the first time and massaging out the cramps in her shoulders. Jenna was shocked at how tall and strong she was now, and Jake and Nina were still out cold. "They told me Jake's arm had twisted strangely. It seems like he got off lucky towards the end."

McTavish looked over at Jake. "Did they tell you what Nina did, Tom?"

Tom looked at him again. "No, what happened to her?" The sergeant told him what had happened to Nina when she had woken up during the augmentation.

"That's probably why they're still asleep. They got extra doses of the sedative."

"When are they going to let us go," Tom asked.

One of the doctors turned to them. "We still have to run a physical on you and your team. That will start as soon as these two wake up."

No sooner had he finished that sentence did Jake stir. "Did I get run over or what," he moaned and rubbed his neck as he sat up. He looked at his arms. They were stronger than before, but also not twisted or excessively puffy. "Note to self, beat swelling senseless," he chuckled to himself, then turned to Tom. "Laying down on the job, Tom? Come on, get up!" Jake hopped off the table, and fell onto the floor a few seconds later, unable to control his enhancements.

Tom looked over at him and grinned. "What was that about laying down on the job?"

"Yeah, yeah, shut up," Jake said, annoyed as he tried to get up.

Nina woke up still kind of sluggish. She tried to sit up, but couldn't coordinate herself to do so. Jake managed to get on his feet and walk around the room a bit to get used to the changes better. He walked over to Nina and helped her sit up. "Are you ok? You looked like you were going psycho earlier."

Nina looked at him blankly. "I did what? I only remember walking in here."

"You don't remember beating someone senseless?"

Nina smiled a little. "Well that narrows it down to… everyone in training."

McTavish showed Nina the security feed from four hours earlier. As she watched, the smile faded, and a look of slight shock took over. When he cut the feed, Nina sat in silence. She knew she could be violent, but she never imagined she would ever take it out on her own people.

"Well," Jake said, "At least she remembered you, sir."

Nina looked up at her sergeant. "I don't even remember that. I don't know how…"

"It could have been worse," the sergeant answered. "When you guys can control yourselves again, the doctors will run the physical and then part two will start."

Kelly walked over to them. "What's part two, sir?"

"Part two is your armor."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter: 7

After a few more days, Sarah no longer needed the cream, and the bruise was very faint. Ytol had told her they were no longer on the prophet's ship, and were on the Sangheili home world, Sangheilios. He had learned she did not know much of combat, and had only improvised her defense. A grave mistake, he knew, that many had made in battle before.

He was no medic, and he did not yet know how to determine if she was physically fit to train or not. He took her outside to explore the grounds. She immediately lit up with excitement to be outside again, and ran for the nearest tree with the most shade. Ytol walked after her, but lost her as soon as she stepped under the tree. A sunset fruit fell on his head, and he looked up to see her lying on a high branch. "How did you get up there so fast?"

She shrugged and answered, "A lot of practice?"

Ytol looked around and spotted another tree a few feet away from the one she was in. "Can you make that jump?" Sarah looked over where he pointed and got up. She crouched on her branch, picked her landing point, and then leapt. She did a summersault in the air, caught a branch in the next tree, and swung into a handstand. Her arms couldn't take the sudden weight change, and she fell back onto the branch. "Ouch," she said, slightly annoyed.

Ytol walked over to her. "Can you usually do that?"

"What? Do a handstand? No, I've never tried that before."

"Can you jump like that without pain?"

Sarah smiled and nodded. "I don't feel sore anymore." She climbed down carefully.

"Your training should start soon then," Ytol noted.

"You are going to train me?"

"In combat, yes I will. Zhar will be teaching you our language and beliefs. I will speak with him about when each will be. You may explore the yard, but do not go past the walls around it." He walked back into the house.

Sarah looked around the yard and climbed up a tall tree in one of the corners of the yard. She crawled along one of the leafy branches just enough to see what was outside the front wall. There was a road leading away from the town as far as she could see. There were several Sangheili out taking care of business, combat practice, or shopping for essentials.

She heard a high-pitched scream come from up the street. A group of boys a few years older than her were surrounding a small girl, and looked as if they were about to hit her. The little girl shouted at them, frightened. One boy knocked her down, another readied a fist. An adult came running out, most likely the girl's mother, and yelled at the boys as she scooped up her daughter. The boys ran off, afraid and glared back as she carried the girl back into her home.

The boys headed down the street towards the yard Sarah was hiding in. She held her breath and hoped they wouldn't look up. One of them said something to another and hopped up to hang on her branch. She choked back a gasp and quickly went up another branch. The other boys were looking into the tree now. Several jumped up and started looking for her. She jumped up to the highest branch that would support her.

She was at the perfect height to jump back into her room, but she would be exposed then. She looked below her and saw the leaves shifting. As soon as the snout appeared, she used her forearm to shove him down. The boy fell several feet and grabbed onto another branch. The other three were almost as high as she was, and she knew even if she could force two down, the third would surely see her.

A scolding voice rang out. The boys dropped to the ground and ran out of the yard. When she was sure they were gone, she began to climb down. Suddenly, someone grabbed her ankle and dragged her to the ground, holding her upside down. She twisted herself to look at who it was. Those ominous amber eyes were staring straight into hers. "Well now, what do we have here? A heretic spy on my people's home world I see." She heard a crackle and in his other hand was a glowing double–bladed sword.

He grinned and swung the weapon. She curled upward and it missed by inches. "Trying to delay the inevitable, hmm?" He swung again at her. She twisted his wrist enough to make it too awkward for him to hold onto her. She fell on her back, rolled over, and sprinted for the door before the heavily armored Sangheili could flex his wrist back in place.

Sarah ran into the house, closing the wooden door behind her, but could see no immediate lock. She ran blindly into the next room. When she set foot in the center of it, she heard the door open again. She ran up the stairs, trying to find her room. Lira found her first, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her into her room.

"Stay here, I will take care of this." Lira left and locked the door behind her.

"Where is it," the voice sounded like thunder. Lira replied calmly she didn't know what he was talking about. "You know what it is I want. I smelled its strange stench a few days ago." Lira growled as he grabbed her wrist when she tried to leave.

"Let go or I will make you."

"Make me? Foolish child, you believe you could fight me?"

"R'kor, unhand my daughter at once." Zhar was walking toward them with Ytol following. R'kor released Lira's wrist and threatened Zhar with his sword.

"You are harboring a heretic on our home world, traitor. What have you to say before your head rolls across this floor?"

"You would kill one who was following the Prophet's direct orders? If you have an issue with the Prophet's decision, you should take it up with him, not me."

R'kor glared at Zhar, his sword hand shaking with anger. "This is not over. I will be back to finish it." He switched off the blade and left the house, slamming the door behind him.

Lira unlocked her room again, and the three Sangheili walked in. Ytol found Sarah under the bed. He pulled her up and sat her on the bed to talk. She hung her head in shame, and refused to meet their eyes. "It was not your fault," Lira said, "He wasn't even supposed to be here today." Still, the little girl would not respond.

Ytol gently made her look up at him. "We've finished your schedule. Zhar will teach you our language and beliefs every other day, starting today. I will be teaching you combat on the other days. I need to know you understand that I cannot and will not treat you like a child when I train you." A sparkle of remembrance and determination sparkled in her eyes and she nodded. "You will have to stay strong and not break from pain or fear of failure. I will not treat you any different than I would any of my other students." Her eyes told Ytol she was ready for the challenge he had just given her. He stood her up on the floor, and she followed Zhar to the library to start her first lesson.

oo00oo

The room was dimmer than the last time he was here. The prophet was reading reports of new human worlds discovered and several of the isolated ones being glassed. The Sangheili approached the prophet and knelt before him. The prophet spent another minute to finish a report. He switched off the hologram generator. "What is the nature of your visit, R'kor? Everything is well, yes?"

R'kor rose to his feet again. "No, holy prophet," he said, shaking his head. "I have discovered a heretic and a traitor on my home world. Zhar is hiding it somewhere." The prophet did not look surprised.

"The heretic is… an experiment of sorts. I am allowing Zhar to train her."

"What," R'kor stared at him in shock, and quickly recomposed himself. "You're _allowing_ this heretic to learn our ways?" The prophet remained neutral.

"You are not to interfere. If this little experiment succeeds, we may have yet another way to thin their numbers. What better way to take down a species than with their own people from within?"

oo00oo

Several weeks passed. Sarah learned quickly in combat, but even quicker in the library. She already knew all of the letters and how to pronounce them, and was working on the numbers. In her combat, she noted Ytol wasn't joking when he said to get tough. He'd land several blows on her before she'd get a basic move right. When she had finally figured out how to block and go for weak spots, he decided to move to the next part of combat.

"I can already tell you're a runner, but you are not nearly as fast as a Sangheili child your age." He pointed down the road to a large forest. "We will go there to train today. There are several paths we can run, and you can also practice your jumping in the trees." She seemed hesitant to leave the yard after being told not to. Ytol knelt to her level. "You have been here a while. You know how to speak, and you can defend yourself well enough. It matters not now if you are known to be here. It would be better they know sooner rather than later anyway."

Ytol opened the front gate measuring around eight feet in height and five across. The moment Sarah stepped outside at least ten people turned their way and growled. Ytol closed the gate and took the lead, heading for the forest. "Stay close," he hissed to her. Sarah picked up her pace a bit, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw the same boys from before hanging out in what looked like an alley. They all stared at her as she walked by in the early morning light.

About ten minutes later, they entered the forest and came to a place where the path split off in at least eight directions. Ytol stepped toward the biggest path that headed east, toward the sunrise. "This path runs ten miles before hitting an end. I can finish this run in twenty minutes as my best time." She stared at him wide-eyed. Ytol chuckled. "I take it your kind takes far longer than that, yes?" She nodded and laughed a little.

Ytol continued, "I'll try to slow down a little bit for you this time. Are you ready?" He crouched slightly, ready to run as she nodded and readied herself. "Go!" He took off, slacking his pace a bit and looked back to see she was keeping up about two feet behind him. He picked up his pace a little more and found he was quickly getting further ahead than her. He lessened his pace again, and stayed a constant five feet ahead.

An hour and a half later he came to a stop at the end of the path. A moment later, Sarah stopped next to him, and then collapsed onto the soft grass, trying to catch her breath. Ytol hadn't even broken a sweat. "That wasn't so bad for a first run," he commented. "We can rest a while before we head back. There's plenty of daylight left." He crouched near her, looking around, and slowly slipped into a blank state of mind.

A few minutes later, she sat up, wiping the sweat off of her forehead. "Ytol," she asked. The old warrior did not stir. She prodded his right arm. He flinched, but then realized it was only her.

He cleared his throat, "What was it you said?"

"Are we ready to run back?"

Ytol rose to his full height again, then stopped and listened. He took a moment to look around then looked toward the trees further along the path. "Who is watching us over there?" The boys stepped out from behind the large dark trunks, a solemn look on their faces from being caught. "L'kar, T'rok, S'rir, and J'raa," he said as he frowned. "Do you seek more trouble?" The boys shook their heads.

"Why is she here," L'kar asked, looking a bit hostile.

"That is not your concern. You want to fight?"

L'kar was still glaring at her. "I'll fight, unless she's too scared to." He grinned.

Ytol turned to the girl. "You have been challenged to a fight. Are you going to back down from that?" Sarah shook her head and took a defensive stance. L'kar launched himself at her, looking to grab her arms. As he got a hold of her left wrist, she also grabbed his, and with her other hand she grabbed under his arm. She flipped him over her head and let him fall on his back. The impact knocked the air out of his lungs and made him let go of her.

The other three boys growled and attacked as well. The girl ran for the nearest tree and quickly climbed its smooth trunk. She hopped into another tree, and then another with the boys following closely, L'kar lagging behind a bit. Ytol followed them on the ground. He saw Sarah jumping quickly from branch to branch, being mindful of available space.

She landed in a tree with fruit growing on it. It looked like an apple, but was a deep blue color, and rough-skinned like a pineapple. She picked a few of them and aimed for the boys' leg joints. The first one struck J'raa on his left ankle. He faltered and fell against the trunk of his tree to keep from falling to the ground five feet below. The second and third fruit missed, allowing S'rir enough time to land in her tree.

The fourth hit him square in the face, and she leapt away as he rubbed his snout. T'rok and L'kar raced past him. None of them had noticed they were near the ocean until Sarah nearly jumped out of the tree into it. She stopped short on the branch that hung over the murky water, and turned to see all four boys catching up and grinning, knowing she was cornered now.

T'rok carefully crawled out on a branch above her. S'rir and J'raa took up branches on her left and right, and L'kar started walking along her branch. S'rir jumped at the same time as J'raa, trying to grab her. She moved in between them, allowing them to pass her onto each other's branches. T'rok dropped on top of her and managed to keep her arms down at her sides.

L'kar walked further along the branch. There was a loud crack, and everyone froze. L'kar shifted his weight again and there was another crack. Below them, a splashing sound announced that something big was in the water, waiting for its dinner to fall in. S'rir and J'raa quickly retreated toward the main trunk. T'rok slowly released Sarah, careful not to make sudden moves.

L'kar grinned again. He stomped on a weak spot in the branch and it began to splinter. "What are you doing," T'rok stared at his friend in shock. L'kar answered with another stomp on the branch. The wood broke away as Sarah jumped up to the branch above. T'rok saw the large monster beneath the waves and fell toward it. He shut his eyes and waited to hit the freezing water.

Instead of a cold splash, he felt a tugging on his wrist. He looked up to see the strange alien offering her other hand to him while gripping the branch above with her legs. He grabbed her other hand, then the branch as she pulled him up. They both carefully crawled along the branch back to the trunk, and then dropped to the forest floor where Ytol was waiting.

Ytol walked over to them and asked, "So, who has won here?"

None of them answered until T'rok spoke. "I don't think anyone has really," he said as he glared at L'kar. "Our battle was cut short by a sea creature and L'kar trying to feed us to it."

Ytol looked over each of them. "A fair answer it seems. It's after noon, and your parents will wonder where you are. We should go now." He turned toward the path and took off running again. The group followed, but the boys were clearly faster than Sarah was. She struggled to keep up, but at least she remembered the way. An hour later she slipped into Zhar's yard and closed the gate quietly.

"No trouble on the way back, yes?" She jumped and turned to see Ytol crouched under the shade of one of the trees. She shook her head and went to sit by him. "I got back here about thirty minutes ago. Your training will be running until you can eventually meet that time. Go on inside and Lira will give you some of that fruit to eat. You're done for today." He watched her go over to the house and walk in the door before resettling his crouch. He sat there thinking about everything that came and went in his mind about his past and his future.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter: 8

* * *

><p>Over the next three years, she ran along the forest path, becoming much stronger and faster than when she first got there. Over those three years, the Sunset fruit was still her favorite, although she'd eat the strange Midnight Pine fruit as well. She giggled once in a while at the fruit when it reminded her of her first challenge with the boys.<p>

There were other fruits she would eat, but all she ate were fruits, and only one or two at a time. Zhar had gotten concerned and asked if she was feeling well after a few weeks. She said she felt great and was always ready for some kind of training whether it was combat or knowledge. Zhar did not know what it was her kind usually ate, so he took her word for it. He didn't have the resources to research what her diet should be, nor was he going to risk going back to that planet again to find out.

She had outgrown her olive green military outfit and now wore something Lira had made for her. It was a semi-loose elbow-length sleeved black shirt and pants. The material was made of a similar cloth to the ones the Sangheili armor required under the metal. It felt like cotton, but was designed to not absorb as much water.

At this point, Sarah no longer needed the translator to tell her what the people said around her. She spoke fluently in their language and understood what was told to her most of the time. She was almost always in a good mood and had become close friends with S'rir, T'rok, and J'raa through their battles with one another. L'kar wasn't exactly friendly with her.

She started spending more and more time outside Zhar's yard, and eventually the adults became used to her presence. She would usually be playing hide and seek with the boys, and was almost always the last one to be found. She obtained the name Kira, meaning hidden one, from the adults that would watch their games.

A few days after she turned nine, she started having dreams. They were always in a little clearing of short green grass and flowers. A forest bordered all around it, and there was a strange air about the place. Not a foreboding air, but rather calm. It was strange to her since she'd lived so long on a planet where the waves danced with the pull of the twin moons in the sky and never rested. Each time she entered the dream, she was walking down a thin dirt path, barely visible with all the grass growing over it. Along the path, speckles of light shone through the olive green leaves. The air was just the right temperature for a cool summer day.

Every time, she'd make it to the clearing with a calm and clear mind, but as soon as the stepped into the clearing, the dream faded. She sat up at dawn one morning to think about the dream more. There were plenty of paths in the woods, and several small ones. She could run fast enough that she wouldn't be missed if she explored them, and she wouldn't follow one too far.

She hopped out of bed and quietly went downstairs. She crept into the kitchen and swiped a Sunset berry. The lights flicked on, and she froze. "And where are you going so early?" Lira's voice was that of amusement, but also concern.

"I was going out to the forest. Just for a little while," Sarah tried to seem convincing. "I was just going to keep running and practice my tree jumping."

Lira looked over her a moment and then smiled. "Alright, but remember Ytol was going to take you down to the lake around noon. You don't want to make him go looking for you. I learned that one the hard way." She laughed a bit and let Sarah out the door before heading into the kitchen to make some breakfast.

The sun was above the horizon by the time she got to the place where all the paths met. She looked over every path and picked out the four smallest ones. The first two took no more than twenty minutes to explore. They both led to the lake where she and Ytol were supposed to train later. The third path led to the tree she and the boys fought at every day.

The fourth path seemed grassier than some of the others and was nearly taken over by the trees around it. She found this odd since none of these paths were this grassy before now. She began walking down the overgrown path, not expecting it to go far. She kept walking for nearly an hour, her mind drifting off to contemplate her environment. A cool breeze brushed through the trees and ruffled her short brown hair. She then noticed the path dappled with sunlight, and gave a small gasp of excitement.

She half jogged down the path and rounded a bend to see the little clearing from her dream. The small area was patched with sunlight and little blue and purple flowers dotted the rim of it. "Hush," someone hissed. "She'll hear us!"

"Duh, that's the point," another voice said. Sarah looked around for the voices. She thought she heard them coming from somewhere low on the ground, and crouched to look through the grass.

She pushed aside some of the grass and red dust flew off. She fell back on her rear in surprise. "Oh come on Rei-."

"No, Kristy, she's not ready."

"And when will she be ready?" A third, calmer voice joined in. "If not now, she may not know at all."

Something fell on Sarah's head and rolled off into her hand. "Oh, sorry," a sleepy voice said. "I fell asleep in the tree again."

Sarah sat cross-legged with a look of shock and amazement. In her hand yawning was a tiny fairy with a light blue shirt, skirt and navy blue boots. Her wings looked very delicate and wispy as they flowed in the gentle wind.

"You're a fairy? I thought they were just stories."

Another little fairy with brown-blond hair flew up to her with wings that looked like maple leaves. "Well they are. We aren't fairies exactly, but that's what we picked to look like. It's one of many talents our kind has."

"You… picked to look like a fairy? How does that work?" A "fairy" in leather and iron armor with reddish skin and monarch butterfly wings flew up as well and stopped Kristy from explaining. "We can't tell you that."

The last one had a sea blue dress and slippers. Her wings drooped a bit as if they were soaked with water. "What we can do is teach you a few tricks if you are willing and able to learn. You can call me Claire. The maple winged one is Kristy, the red one is Rei, and the sleepy one is Luna."

"Why would you want to help me," Sarah asked.

Kristy sat on her knee. "Well, we sometimes get visions, or signs of some sort to indicate what will happen in the near future. We knew you'd be here sooner or later."

Rei looked annoyed at Kristy and sighed. "One of those signs said you would need the skills we can teach later for reasons you will have to figure out yourself. The catch is you can't tell anyone about these skills. That is, if you can learn them."

"Well what are they?"

"Patience," Claire said, "We have plenty of time. First, let me see your necklace." When the girl looked at her surprised, Claire continued, "Yes, we know about the necklace, but I would like to see it." Sarah pulled the amethyst gem from under her shirt and let it rest against her chest again. The four little aliens took a closer look and saw the gem glittering with random bits of violet light.

Luna turned to Claire and asked, "What do you think?"

Claire turned to the others and saw they were all looking at her. She thought a moment and answered, "I think if she's willing to learn, she should start now." Claire flew over to a nearby pond. She used her arms to lift an orb of the water, but did not once touch it. She moved the water in various ways from a whip to shaping objects. "Do you know what I'm doing or how?" She saw the girl shake her head in disbelief.

"This is called water bending. This can be used for several things like defense, freezing or cooling things, and even healing. Kristy can control the earth, Rei the same with fire, and Luna can teach air bending. If you can learn how to do these, we will tell you how you're doing it." She flew over to Sarah with the liquid orb. "Concentrate on it and think about what you want it to do."

Sarah didn't think it would work, but tried it anyway. She focused on it and tried to pull it out of Claire's grasp. The water rippled and lifted a little bit, but did not completely leave Claire's control. "Hmm," she thought a moment. "Perhaps you should try another one first."

"I think we should tell her how she's doing it first," Kristy chimed in.

"It might make it easier for her," Luna added.

"And it may also cause more problems than she's ready for," Claire reminded them.

"Do we have a choice really," Kristy countered.

Claire sighed with a no and put the water back where she got it from. She went back over to them and asked, "Do you know why your necklace glows like this?" She indicated the glittering in it.

"No, I don't. Sometimes it will do that, and sometimes it won't do anything."

"Have you ever taken it off?"

"I felt tired when I did, so I just always wear it."

"How long have you had it?"

"As far back as I can remember."

The others looked at Claire, and she gave them a little nod. All four touched the gem and together pulled an orb of violet light from it. The orb floated away from them a bit and into Sarah's hand. She looked over the orb a bit confused.

Luna landed on her arm. "This is an aura orb. This aura is your energy and can also keep you alive if you know how to use it."

"How can it do that?" "Well-," Luna was cut off by Rei.

"She needs to get going. It's already noon and her mentor will be looking for her."

"Uh oh…," Sarah got up quickly and the orb vanished. "I'll come back some other time. Bye!" She ran down the path as fast as she could to the lake where Ytol was waiting for her.

"You're late. But I suppose it's better than not showing up." Ytol did not look pleased, but he did not look angry either. "Today you will train in combat in the water. You'll have to keep yourself afloat while fighting an opponent. T'rok will be the one you fight." Sarah winced when she looked over at the water and took a pace back as T'rok leapt into the semi-clear lake. "Go on," Ytol said, "Your opponent is waiting." When she still did not jump, Ytol picked her up and threw her in.

She went under the waves and put her legs down to feel around for a foothold at the bottom. There was none to push off on. She flailed and shut her eyes against the murky sting, unable to see the afternoon sun. Her lungs felt like they were going to burst, and she kept clawing the water for the surface.

"Kira?" She heard T'rok's muffled voice somewhere above her, then a splash. He grabbed her arms and pulled her up to the surface for air. "You can't swim," he asked when she stopped coughing. She shook her head, ashamed. "I'll teach you then." He looked over at Ytol sitting under one of the trees, and the old warrior nodded his approval.

He pulled her back towards the shore just enough for her to regain her footing. "Well the first one is the easiest." He pushed off the bank and paddled his arms and legs much like a four-legged animal would. "You won't make top swimmer with it, but it can keep you from drowning. Come on, you try." She was still hesitant to surrender her stability. "I'll be right here if you go under again. Come on, come over here." She felt the bottom get further away with each step she took towards T'rok. She slipped off the edge and nearly went under again. She kicked and tried to stay up, but started to panic again and T'rok had to come back to keep her up.

"You can't hesitate. This is just like normal battle; hesitation means a heavy price you can't afford." He put her back in the same spot as before and swam back over to his. "Now try again," he called over. She carefully stepped toward the edge again and pushed off as he did. She tried to copy his paddle, but flailed about again. He put her back in the same spot. "That time you were too quick and panicky. You must be confident, but also know what you're doing." He swam back to his place again.

Again Sarah stepped to the edge. She paddled a little bit with her arms before she pushed off. She fought with the waves to stay up for a moment, and then began paddling toward T'rok as he had shown her. "Good," he said once she got over. "Now is the actual floating part. It's only a little harder." He swam towards the other bank, but stopped halfway there where the water was deepest. He fanned out his arms in the water repeatedly as he used his feet in a similar way to the paddle. "When you stop swimming and need to keep up, you have to do this. Come over and take your time, but don't be too hesitant."

Gingerly she stepped off the bank and struggled to maintain her paddle. When she got to him, she faltered, unable to sit up as he was. The water covered her face and she started to sink again. T'rok quickly scooped her up, and let her sit on his knee as he tried to keep them both afloat with his other arm and leg. "You can't panic no matter what. Just take your time and think about what you want to do. If you mess up, just calm yourself and let yourself float."

He let her go again in the water and watched as she copied his movements. She dipped under again for a moment, but resurfaced on her own a second later spitting out water. "Is the water always this cold," she asked, shivering.

"Usually, yes. Only during the really hot summer days will it warm up. On colder days if you let yourself sink just enough to cover your shoulders, it'll feel warmer underwater." T'rok stopped moving just enough for the water to go up to his neck before starting again. Sarah copied him and managed to keep her head above the water. The water felt like a warm blanket over her shoulders and stopped shivering.

They spent the next few hours getting used to swimming and making sure Sarah could keep her head above the water. Ytol had fallen into another blank state of mind, staring at the ground and, some of the time, at the trees above him. It was near sunset that the other little groups around the lake started to leave. "You'll be ready to train in no time," T'rok smiled as he watched her swim in circles.

Sarah sat up in the water, "Shouldn't we be going? Lira is going to wonder what happened to me and Ytol." T'rok nodded and swam towards the shore. She followed him close behind, but then felt a tugging on her ankle. It was slimy and cold, so she reached down, expecting to pull away seaweed. Instead of a thin plant, she felt a thick and scaly tentacle. A chill went up her spine as it started pulling her away.

"T'rok!" Water flooded into her mouth before she could say more. The creature dragged her towards the center of the lake faster than she thought T'rok could swim. Sarah lunged for a grip on a boulder, but slipped easily off because of the algae on it. She was starting to get light headed, and could no longer see the streaks of pink and orange in the sky above her. T'rok appeared next to her and tugged at the limb. Another one grabbed him and tore him away from her.

The creature's single red eye looked at them, and then continued his trip to his underwater cave. T'rok struggled against the tentacle, but could do nothing while his arms were tied at his sides. His mandible mouth was held shut, but barely. Sangheili were not built for water combat either.

Sarah kicked at the tentacle repeatedly with her free foot, but only seemed to be wearing herself out. She couldn't think, and the pressure in her lungs was becoming unbearable. She reached down again in a sort of trance, grabbed onto the scaly limb, and bit it as hard as she could. The roar of the creature could be heard through the water as he quickly released her. She bit the limb that held T'rok even harder until freezing blood gushed out of the wound. The monster scurried away to his cave without his dinner.

T'rok grabbed Sarah around the waist and hauled her to the surface. He laid her on her back as he pulled her to the shore and she gasped for air. "Kira, are you alright?" The voice sounded muffled, and her vision was blurry. She rolled her head towards T'rok to find his face filled with worry. In another moment, Ytol was checking her over, though she had not seen him approach. The world around her went dark as Ytol picked her up and ran back to Zhar's home as fast as his legs would carry him.

oo00oo

"Kira?" Sarah spun around in the dark to find who was calling her.

"Kira," another voice joined in. "Kira, we're over here." She turned around again to find Claire and Luna there. "That was quite an adventure you had there," Luna said. For a moment, Sarah didn't know what she meant, but then she saw a brief memory of the lake monster flash in front of her.

Claire spoke next, "You must come back to the clearing whenever you can. It's because of dangers like that creature that you have to learn what we can teach you."

"Why is it so important that I learn that stuff anyway? Why me? What if I can't do it?" The two tiny fairies looked at each other for a moment before Luna answered.

"It's just important that you learn. We know you can do this."

"How do you know? How do you know I'll even live to see the end of the year at the rate I'm going?"

"We just know," Claire floated between them.

"When you are well again, come down to the clearing so we may start teaching you properly."

Sarah looked at her blankly. "What do you mean when I'm well? I feel fine." Claire and Luna faded into the dark as a third voice called her name. She blinked and suddenly her vision was blurry again. She saw a Sangheili on her left, and the same stone room she had lived in for three years.

"Kira, wake up." The voice was Lira's, and she sounded just as worried as T'rok had looked. Another blurry face joined Lira's. The new Sangheili sat her up and made her drink a pale orange liquid as Lira walked toward the door.

She hardly realized there was a liquid in her mouth until it hit a few taste buds that were awake. The taste told her it was some kind of medicine with the flavor of a sunset berry mixed in it. Sarah coughed and felt as though she had ripped most of her organs in half. She slumped back into the bed and let her head roll over to see Ytol was wiping her face off with a towel. Behind him, Lira called Zhar into the room and he stood by Ytol, asking him something. She couldn't think enough to translate his words or Ytol's answer.

Sarah fell into a blank state, frustrated that she couldn't concentrate. She stared at the Sangheili, then at the ceiling, and finally at one of the walls. She fell from her thoughts enough to almost be meditating, but still held some speck of awareness.

"… You're sure she'll be alright?" Words started to become clear, and she awoke from her blank stare.

"Yes, I'm sure, Zhar. If she wasn't, she would have died the night she was poisoned. You know that as well as I." Ytol waved his hand over her face and her eyes followed then looked back at Ytol when he put his hand down. "Whether she understands us or not, however, we won't know until she can talk again." Sarah tried to say she did, but could barely move her mouth, and couldn't feel her throat.

She tried to get up, but could not make her arms move. She was conscious and could hear and understand what was around her, but was trapped in a paralyzed body. She looked at the two Sangheili, frightened, wondering if they could read her as she did them.

Zhar seemed to catch her eye first. "Can you understand us?" Sarah willed her eyes to show relief to have his attention, to show something that she would be okay. Ytol did not consider eye movement to be of great importance.

"It's probably just a reaction from the medicine. Don't get your hopes up so soon, Zhar. She will fight off the poison in her own time."

Sarah felt isolated. She was so close to being herself again, yet not. Tears welled in her eyes and she looked at the floor, afraid and sad that they could not understand, and that she was falling behind in her training. Zhar knelt to her level. "That's not an involuntary reaction. You can understand us, Kira?" Sarah looked back up at him, the sparkle of happiness showing again. She felt her face give a small grin in place of a full smile.

Zhar felt her forehead. It was cold and clammy, far too cold to be normal in any sense of the word. "That lake creature you faced is just one of many kinds on this world," he said. "Their blood is poisonous to any form of life. Normally, the poison kills within hours. You must not have gotten a lot in your system because of the water." Zhar looked worried, but glad at the same time that she was still alive and didn't seem to have any permanent damage.

Ytol looked up from his own electronic notepad. "Can you move at all yet?" Sarah tried to squirm, do something, anything at all. Her right arm shifted and her left hand twitched. Ytol jotted down a few notes. "Try to talk." She tried, but no sound came, just another cough and the horrible pain that came with it. A few more notes went down in the pad before Ytol gave her another dose of medicine.

"She seems to be recovering rather quickly. I wonder if humans are more tolerable to the poison." There was a tone of relief in his voice, satisfied with his medical work. They spent the next few hours giving Sarah a few more small doses of the medicine and seeing if she improved anymore. By bedtime, she could move her arms and her right leg, but had not the strength to get up by herself yet. It was tough for her to speak, and her throat felt constricted, but she could get what she wanted to say across to them.

Ytol rested his hand on her head. It was less clammy and felt closer to her normal temperature. "Get some sleep, Kira. You'll need your rest." And sleep she did. She slept for five days straight, each day Ytol came in every few hours to give her the medicine and take more notes on her condition. Zhar was busy training his students, but would visit when he could.

When Sarah finally woke up the first thing she saw was the bright sunlight of noon covering her eyes. She used all the strength she had in her to sit up and rub her eyes.

"You're awake!" Sarah flinched, and then saw it was T'rok who had startled her. He walked over to her from the chair he was sitting in. "Feeling better?" She nodded and smiled at him.

"You're welcome for the save, by the way," she teased.

T'rok swatted her head playfully. "Thanks," he grinned. "But I still had to save you from the water."

She heard the footsteps and guessed who it was before he opened the door. Ytol was looking at his pad again and then realized she was up. "Finally awake, hmm? Did you have a nice nap?" Sarah slid off the bed to stand next to him, then immediately lost her footing and fell against the wall. She got up again before T'rok could help her, and she again tried to walk. She stumbled around a little more before regaining control of her legs.

The tall Sangheili next to her wrote down more notes. "Perhaps tomorrow you can begin your training again. Of course, tomorrow, you'll be in the library again." Sarah looked excited to be able to return to training so soon, but then darted out of the room to find the bathroom.

T'rok took her outside, with Ytol's permission, to watch Zhar train his students. They sat under the shade of one of the trees as Zhar finished talking to them. Zhar stood near them as the line broke into pairings again. The first pair she noticed was doing a relatively simple combat situation. The Sangheili on the left, slightly shorter than his opponent, dove for a few punches to the gut. His partner easily blocked the first two swings and counter punched him in the snout.

The second pair was stuck in a headlock war of who could out-hold who. The last pair was continuously punching one another, neither giving in to pain even when the blood started to show. One head-butted the other, and rose his leg as the other shook off the disorientation. He didn't know what hit him when his battle partner struck his foot out and knocked the poor Sangheili to the ground clutching his stomach.

Sarah winced at the sight. T'rok glanced at her. "What's the matter? That kick he did?" She nodded and watched the defeated student get up. T'rok thought for a moment. "So does that mean you don't like fighting at all?"

She tore her gaze away from the students. "Training is one thing. Fighting for real is different. I don't like to fight for real unless I really have to." Her mind flashed back to one early morning just a month before she had been taken away to train with the other Spartans.

T'rok looked back at the students, then Zhar, and then back to her. "Do you want to practice? See if you're ready to do combat training again?" She broke out of her memory and saw Zhar walk over to his students again and being talking to them about their tactics.

"Sure," she said as she stood. "Are we practicing just anything or only a few moves?" T'rok shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me, but I think we can both agree not to use that kick."

Sarah nodded and readied her defensive stance. T'rok took a more offensive stance and they circled each other, deciding where they would strike when. A few of the students noticed what the children were doing and watched them.

A moment later Zhar noticed three of his students not paying attention. "What are you staring at?" One of the students nodded toward the sparring pair, and Zhar followed his gaze. The other students looked over as well.

The circling slowed, and they both readied their plans. T'rok leapt first, aiming for the legs. Sarah jumped easily over him and went to pin him down. T'rok rolled away from her, and then tackled her, looking to get her in a headlock. The girl squirmed, but could not match his raw strength like this. She maneuvered her legs to roll the writhing mess over so she pinned him with her back, then reached up to dislodge his arms.

He lost his grip and kicked her rear with both of his hoofed feet so that she stumbled toward a tree. She barely stopped herself from going head first into the trunk. A quick glance over her shoulder showed he was already on his feet, and so she climbed up to one of the branches. T'rok knew better than to follow her into her trap. He stepped away from the shade and tracked her through the leaves. It took only a blink to lose her.

T'rok looked around for her, and then heard the leaves rustle above him. He looked up to see Sarah launch herself from the branch and land on him so they rolled across the yard. She sprang up quicker than he did and went to pin him again. T'rok tripped her and they both got up.

They locked in another stare down, daring the other to make the first move. She made a move to the left, then to the right when he fell for the trick. She landed a few light hits on his shoulder, trying not to really hurt him. T'rok felt the message. He reached back and hooked her ankle with his, causing her to stumble backwards. He followed quickly and batted her head a few times, but not hard enough to leave bruises.

Sarah went for the opening to his stomach with several punches, ignoring most of his attack. T'rok brought his leg around behind her knee, and kicked it forward so she fell on it, then quickly pushed her onto her back. A move, she reflected, she wouldn't try on him because of how thin his leg joints were compared to her legs. She feared she might seriously injure him if she tried, especially after seeing what hitting one of those joints with a little fruit did before.

She brought her feet up and shoved him off as he went to pin her down. She sprang up and locked her hands with his, fighting over who could shove who more. They stayed locked for a good thirty seconds, throwing each other's weight around, before one wrong shift threw them both to the ground. Neither of them got up. Instead they stayed on their backs trying to catch their breath and laughing a bit.

A few of the students were surprised that the girl had matched the young Sangheili boy and by how fast she moved. Others remained neutral, neither impressed, nor disappointed at the children's current skill sets. Zhar practically beamed with pride that she could hold her own against a slightly older, bigger opponent. He remembered feeling the same way when his own daughter was in training and had beaten her first opponent.

"Sir" one of the students turned to Zhar. "What exercise are we doing next?" Zhar turned to his student, caught a bit off guard.

"I think we're done for today." The other reason he released them was because he was usually rough tongued with his students. He simply couldn't be that way knowing Sarah was nearby, and he certainly couldn't let his students think he was going soft.

Two of the students helped the children up, praising them lightly for their skills before heading out with the rest of the group. Zhar walked over to T'rok and Sarah. "I take it she's feeling much better," he asked T'rok, amused.

"Good enough for another battle with me," T'rok smiled.

"It seems you're both doing well in your training. Soon you'll be able to move on to more advanced combat, and possibly weapons." T'rok lit up at the promise. Sarah again, only looked curious, unable to go without information for long.

* * *

><p>Please don't murder me in my sleep! Yes, I know, "Shadow! What were you thinking? You can't have fairies in a Halo fanfic! It's madness!" Well no, this is Sparta for one and for two, I promise the fairies won't be around for long. :)<p>

Note to self: Never eat chocolate and write stories...

I'm going to have to type faster now. I've only got 4 pages left to share in the next part. :P I didn't think it would catch up so fast!

Leave a review for me! :D And please don't kill me.

May the Gods smile upon us all as we walk the path of fanfiction! :3


	9. Chapter 9

Here it is, Chapter: 9! :D

MrBushid0: "Pretty good so far but bringing fairies into halo seems like a bad idea." ::: I promise, this chapter is the last time you'll see anything at all about fairies. ;)

AnonymouseXI: "I'm also wondering something else. Brutes and Elites aren't the best of friends, so will that mean brutes will eventually start picking on her?" ::: That's just so close to the truth it's not funny. Jk, it is. :P It will be covered first thing in the next chapter. :)

* * *

><p>T'rok was called home to take care of some chores, and Zhar had a meeting with his Shipmaster to attend to that afternoon. When they left, Sarah went back up to her room and shut the door, making sure Lira and Ytol's footsteps weren't nearby. She hopped up onto the cabinet and moved the wooden slab over. She crawled up and shifted it carefully back into place as she switched on the little light in the storage space.<p>

She removed her data pad from a crack in one of the corners and again updated her journal. Three years seemed to pass quickly for her, but there were so many entries in the pad already. There were descriptions of all her neighbors, friends, and, what she called, family members, there were also descriptions of what some of the people wore and how those people behaved in each outfit.

She saved the files and again opened her tech journals. She had ten designs for Slipspace engines when she arrived on this world, and now there were fifteen. She opened up another tech file on weapon designs. The only ones in there were the Shotgun, Rocket Launcher, Assault Rifle, and a few failed attempts of hers to create a new weapon from them.

She closed the files and wondered how much had changed at home in the time she was gone. She thought of the other Spartans and trainers first. She missed her friends, and she missed the training drills so early in the morning. She quickly noted in her pad the differences between Sangheili training and what the military had been teaching her.

Another question surfaced in her mind. Why had one of the leaders of the Covenant seemed so angry when he first saw her? Why had he called her a heretic? What had Zhar meant by offending the gods? She noted down the questions in another folder where her other unanswered questions and goals were stored.

She put the pad back into its hiding place and dropped back into her room after replacing the slab. She looked out the window to see it was still early afternoon. She didn't hear any footsteps and assumed Ytol and Lira were either busy, napping, or not at home. She decided there was plenty of sunlight left and walked outside towards the forest.

Sarah jogged along the path for about thirty minutes before reaching the clearing. She looked around to see it was as she had left it the last time she was here. "Luna," she called out. There was no answer. "Rei?" Still there was no reply. "Kristy? Claire? Where are you guys?" The clearing was empty and colder than before. She sat down near the creek running by and let one of her hands drift in the icy water.

Claire had specifically said to come back when she could when she felt better, so where was she? Why would she say to come here and then not be here?... unless of course, the message had been nothing more than a dream or a reminder lodged in the back of her mind.

She sighed and stood to leave. As she stepped back on the dusty path, a soft hum made her stop. She looked to the source of the noise and saw her necklace faintly glowing violet. Its light flashed brightly for a moment, forcing her to close her eyes. When she opened them again, everything around her was shaded violet… well almost everything.

In the grass was a faint air of red where the dust had flown off the first time she was here. In the air around her were trails of the same red color as well as dark green, sea blue, and sky blue. The two blue trails seemed the strongest and so she decided to follow where they went. The trails led her along the creek about another mile before veering off behind some trees. She looked up, and there they were.

"I told you she could do it," Kristy beamed. Claire seemed quite pleased finally and said,

"Perhaps you were right at first, Kristy. It makes sense she would be able to learn her family's ability first." Sarah blinked in confusion, also making the violet sight disappear.

"What do you mean?" The four winged creatures turned and looked at her for a moment.

"Ah, I forget," Claire said, "You do not remember them. We will tell you when you've learned more though."

"Learned more of what? What is it you want from me?" Sarah started to feel distrustful of them because something nagged at her that they were hiding so much more from her. Luna floated down to her.

"Let's start with you finding us. How is it you knew where to go?" Sarah paused a moment, then described the glow of the necklace and what it did to her vision.

"Aura sight," Luna stated, then continued before the confused girl could ask, "Aura sight is your ability to see the energy from other people. That ability comes with a new level of reading someone. I'm sure you can put that to good use."

"What can this sight tell me?"

Kristy spoke up next, "It can tell you the 'true colors' of someone. It will show whether that soul is naturally good or bad and what they are feeling. If you see a spotted or faint aura, it will tell you the person is either ill or injured."

Sarah concentrated on her necklace, willing it to do what it did again. It glowed and gave her the strange violet sight. She looked at Claire first to see the main sea blue color, but then saw an overlapping color of slight pink and below that was the normal blue color. "What do Claire's colors mean," she asked after listing out what she saw.

Rei answered, "The sea blue is her personality which is calm and collected usually. The light pink means she's happy at the moment, and the regular blue is her family's base color." Still the nine year old looked confused. Rei sighed, "You'll understand eventually."

Luna flew over to Sarah. "This will be your first exercise. You had to listen to patterns in footsteps to know who was coming your way before. Is that true?" The girl nodded. "And you had to read people based on nothing more than your own emotions, right?" Again Sarah nodded. "Then this will be perfect practice for you. Take care of when you decide to use your aura sight though. Using the sight makes the brown part of your eyes turn dark purple, and people might notice that right away. Try to figure out the different colors on your own as well."

Sarah tucked the necklace under her shirt. "I still don't understand why you are teaching me this. Why is it so important?" Luna's eyes shifted, slightly showing her unease. "This is what we were shown that you would need very soon. Keep watch of what's around you, Kira."

Luna looked over to the horizon to see the sun setting. "You should head home," she said, a distant look in her eyes. "They will wonder where you are." Sarah took one last look at them and ran as fast as she could back to Zhar's home.

oo00oo

Zhar walked quietly back into his home around midnight. He was tired from the meeting and nearly dropped the key when he was locking the door. Shipmaster Tsak had called him and Finn to his ship to inform them that the Prophet of Solitude and the Prophet of Temperance had returned from their campaign of glassing a few of the humans' worlds and wished to speak with them.

Zhar and Finn had walked into the meeting room to see three holograms, one of each Prophet, staring at them. The Prophet of Virtue sat between the other two and was in a contemplative mode with his head resting on his clasped hands. The Prophets of Solitude and Temperance, however, looked displeased indeed.

The pair of Sangheili greeted the prophets in the usual manner and heard the doors hiss shut behind them. The Prophet of Solitude spoke first. "What's this Virtue has told me about a heretic child being trained within our own Covenant," his angry old voice rose to a near shriek as his hand shook with rage. Zhar groped around in his mind for the right words to use.

"Well?" The prophet was clearly in no mood to wait for answers.

"She was different from the others," Zhar started slowly. "She is young enough to still be shown the right path and possibly help to redeem her race from the sins they have committed."

"That matters not!" The angry prophet's words felt as though he had been there next to Zhar and smacked him. "That child is a heretic, and a heretic she will always be! She cannot be trusted and should be executed at once!" His voice rose to a screech.

"If I may have a say," the Prophet of Virtue interrupted, "Zhar, perhaps you would like to report her progress over the last three years-."

"What? That is un-."

Virtue raised his hand to silence his friend. "The last three years that she has been with us," he finished. Zhar recomposed himself and gave a tiny nod to him.

"She has taken to our kind well. Within the first few months, she had learned numbers, letters, and how to somewhat speak our tongue." He paused to see Solitude settle in his chair, his eyes still burning. "A year or so was spent teaching her basic combat and the basis of our Covenant, religious belief, and of Sangheili customs as well. Over the past year, she has improved greatly in her fighting ability as well as sprinting and, strangely enough, jumping."

The Prophet of Temperance sat back in his chair, his back aching from leaning forward the whole time. "And this child," he asked, "Has she ever complained or done anything that defied you or any other Sangheili in any way?" Zhar thought a moment, his mandibles twitching as he searched for the words.

"No, she has not. The only… setbacks during the last three years were the injuries she received from the Prophet of Virtue's guards and a bit of blood poisoning that kept her paralyzed for a week after rescuing one of our neighbors from a sea creature."

The Prophet of Temperance nodded. "I never liked those monsters either," he commented. "I see no reason why her training shouldn't continue if it has gone as well as you say so far."

Solitude scowled at him. "Have you got worms in your brain? She should be erased from existence. No heretic shall walk the divine path!"

Virtue flicked a switch on his anti-gravity chair and the hologram of Solitude vanished. "They can still hear me!" Solitude's annoyed voice filtered through the other two holograms as Virtue looked at him with a raised brow, then back to Zhar and Finn.

"I swear sometimes I still think he is only a child."

"I am not," Solitude raged and the hum of his chair faded away as he left the meeting room.

Temperance sat up in his chair. "There is another matter, Zhar that has not been addressed yet, to my knowledge at least." He paused to make sure the relatively young Sangheili was paying attention. "It has been some time since you last bloodied your blade, has it not?" Zhar nodded, not particularly liking where this was going.

"Then I have a task for you two. You are both to join Shipmaster K'til and his soldiers on a mission. You will be leaving in two days to intercept a vessel that is to pass by our space at that time and kill all of the heretics aboard it. Once that is finished, you are to recover any information you can from their computers. Even if there is none to be found, cleansing the universe left to us helps us along the path to the Great Journey. Have I made myself clear?"

Zhar swallowed his unease. "Perfectly clear Prophet of Temperance." Finn twitched a bit but also understood the orders given to him. "Good," the prophet finished. He switched off his hologram and left to follow Solitude, leaving the two Sangheili with Virtue.

"I know it may seem unfair," he started. "However, there is no room for weakness in this Covenant. You both know this. We cannot have some of our best warriors grow hesitant because of one minor factor. This is to only ensure your faith remains strong, regardless of anything that happens in your life. Ytol will continue her training while you are gone, so that isn't something to worry about. I also recall your daughter has battle experience and was taught by you as well, yes?"

Zhar again nodded, unable to form the words as he warred within himself. He continued listening to the prophet. "I see," the prophet nodded, contemplating many thoughts at once. "Then this meeting has concluded." Virtue switched off the final hologram and directed his chair to move down the hallway to his quarters.

oo00oo

Zhar awoke the next day to the early morning sun. He glanced at the clock and swore under his breath. He'd woken up late again. He quickly got dressed and walked down to the library to see Sarah already reading a history book with three others stacked next to her. He read the title as he easily stepped over the stone slabs leading to the table. "The Unggoy Rebellion wasn't one of the Covenant's finest times."

Sarah looked up from the book. "I don't exactly understand what they were fighting about." She looked back to the book at the Sangheili in special gray armor with many designs etched into the metal. The glowing double bladed weapon at his side seemed to taunt her with the memory of the same weapon that nearly killed her before. At the same time, it seemed to have a gentle, curious glow with it.

Zhar followed her gaze to the picture. "You read quickly if you're already up to where the Arbiter joins the battle." The girl nodded with an absent mind as she let her fingers trace over the glowing sword. "Ah, but your eyes look to the weapons rather than the words now." Sarah tore her eyes from the page to look up at Zhar. "It's a sword, isn't it? I've seen pictures before of human swords, but none have looked like this."

The warrior's mind drifted off into some of his memories. "That is an Energy Sword. The blades are made of plasma, and slice easily through almost anything. Not only that, but it is also extremely hot. Anything it touches begins to burn immediately." Sarah put on a contemplative face for a few seconds before turning back to him and saying, "So, if you were to cut yourself with it, you would not bleed?"

Zhar shook his head. "It depends on the wound itself. A light, swift scratch may produce blood, but a deep gash most likely would be burned closed. Don't be fooled though. Any loss of blood is considered a loss of honor as well as pride, as you know."

Again the girl nodded then asked, "What were they fighting over exactly?" Zhar felt his mandibles twitch again.

"Well…," he started, "The basic situation was that year, there were more Unggoy than usual, and they were forced to take up some of the Kig-Yar's space in their shared habitat. The Kig-Yar didn't like it, and did something to make the Unggoy upset and start the rebellion."

"If it was the Kig-Yar's fault, then why were the Unggoy punished?"

Zhar again searched for words. "The Unggoy were the ones doing the real damage, killing our soldiers in the conflict once the rebellion really started. The Kig-Yar members involved were indeed dealt with, but not in a way some would agree with."

Sarah's eyes flicked back to the picture of the Sangheili in the strange gray armor. "Who was the Arbiter?"

Zhar followed her gaze. "His name is not known to me, and neither is it mentioned in here." Seeing her confused glance, he continued, "Arbiter is not a name exactly, it is more of a rank. The Prophets choose an Arbiter during times of great need, such as the Unggoy Rebellion, and the Taming of the Lekgolo. They usually choose a Sangheili whose honor is nearly entirely gone so that he may redeem at least some of what he lost."

The girl put the book down and turned up to her mentor. "So what was it we were going to learn today?" Zhar snapped out of his thoughts.

"Today…," he trailed off, forgetting his words. "Today…," he rubbed the back of his neck, trying to remember what he had planned. He'd stayed up too late the night before, he realized miserably.

"What's wrong," the small voice asked him. Zhar sighed, knowing he would have to tell her eventually, and now was as good a time as any. "The meeting took longer than I had anticipated. I got home so late because I was talking to Finn about the next mission we are supposed to go on the day after tomorrow. The Prophets of Solitude and Temperance have returned from their travels and have assigned Finn and I to…," he couldn't do it. He couldn't outright tell a child that the Prophets had ordered the destruction of yet more of her kind.

"…to gather more information on your people." His words sank into his head and he realized that maybe he could indeed find more information. Perhaps some about the biology of humans and possibly what their diets should be. He was certain a diet of only fruit could not be healthy for her. The hint was the few sharp teeth her mouth held that was clearly meant to tear up meat.

"How long will you be gone?"

"It should only take a few days. You won't even know I'm gone," he chuckled. Sarah giggled a little just so he wouldn't see that she was worried. She could see the discomfort in his eyes. She never imagined he would lie to her, but perhaps he wasn't telling the whole story.

oo00oo

Zhar woke up early in the morning and quickly slipped on his golden armor. He walked down the staircase and was nearly to the door when he felt something land on his back. He spun around, reaching for the attacker and found its wrist. He threw the body onto the couch and saw through the dim light that it was small, getting up rather quickly, and was giggling.

"I finally got you," she said, still giggling.

Zhar sighed in relief that he had not harmed her and chuckled as he sat next to her. "Yes, I suppose you did. You weren't going to let me leave without saying goodbye, is that it?"

"Did you really think you'd get away from us that easily," a third voice asked.

Zhar looked at the staircase to see his own daughter was awake as well. "It seems the answer to that is no now," he laughed a bit. "I do have to leave though. Lira, you will be in charge of my part of the training while I'm gone. Make sure she reads more about the first meeting with the Lekgolo." Lira nodded and wished him luck and honor on his mission before walking into the kitchen.

Sarah gave him a hug, or what could be called a hug due to his size and the armor encasing him. "I'll miss you father, even if it is only a few days." Zhar felt a mix of emotions suddenly fill him. Part of it was happiness and surprise that she had accepted him as a father figure, but with that feeling was the heavy weight of dread when he remembered the reason he was leaving in the first place. He shoved the thought aside and carefully returned the hug. He got up and again walked to the door. "I promise it won't be too long, Kira," he smiled and closed the door behind him quietly as he left to meet Finn at the transport station.

A few hours later, Zhar and Finn sat next to each other in the Phantom they had been assigned to. Zhar gave himself a mental shakedown, trying to store away any sense of weakness within him. This was clearly a test by the Prophets; a test he could not afford to fail. If he failed this mission, he did not want to even begin to think about what would happen to all of his kin and close friends.

"The human ship is approaching. Ready the plasma cannons," the Shipmaster called out to his crew. He radioed the Phantoms preparing to leave, "Be ready to move. You must get to their bridge and get the data before the humans have a chance to purge it."

As the Shipmaster finished, Zhar patted his sides to make sure his Plasma Rifle and Energy Sword were attached securely. He looked around at the other Sangheili in the Phantom and saw many faces glaring at him. Some of them had their backs to him and others growled as if he was no longer allowed to even look at another Sangheili. He turned to Finn and asked, "Finn, are you alright with this?"

His friend looked back at him. "We have to do what we must for the Great Journey." He lowered his voice. "And we have to do it for our kin. You know they would gladly kill them as well as Kira, Ytol, and us if we give them just one reason to do it." He made sure his carbine was loaded before continuing. "If it's worth protecting who we care about, even Kira, then we must follow our orders to the letter, no matter what."

The last three years, Zhar saw, had not been as kind to Finn as it had been to him. Instead of the jumpy kid that had been his shadow most of their lives, there was a hardened battle brother ready to carryout orders without question. He was worried by this apparent change in Finn, but could not dwell on it long.

A barrage of plasma bolts was fired off into space, and the Phantoms took off. Moments later, Zhar heard the Phantom carrying him firing as well. Within two minutes, the Phantom docked at one of the air locks to drop off the squad. The Sangheili quickly boarded the alien vessel and tried to work out their way to the bridge. One of the science officers took out a pad that began creating a map of the ship and followed the path that highlighted itself.

Zhar kept an eye on anything that might come up behind him as he followed the squad. He was half right. A clinking sound came from near his feet and he leapt backward just far enough so the grenade only damaged part of his shields. He looked down the hallway to see several humans in the green and brown clothing and pulled back just as they opened fire on him with their Assault Rifles.

He took out his own rifle and opened fire on the closest one. The body fell into a bloody heap on the floor, and Zhar pulled back again to let the rifle cool. Another clinking sound and the little green metal container came into view. He kicked it back to where it came from and dove back behind the wall. The screams were drowned out by the explosion. He looked back to see bloody limbs and other body parts scattered all over the hallway. The pool of blood forming down the middle smelled foul.

Zhar did not dare look back as he heard another door slide open. He sprinted away from the mess to catch up to the rest of the squad. As he turned a corner, something caught his eye. The broken door led to a room with a computer that still seemed functional. The glass wall looked into a room a floor below him that had a few rows of pods in them. He could see some humans that looked as if they were asleep in those pods.

He shoved the thought aside and tapped a green button on the computer. The computer pinged and waited for a command. Zhar looked at the keyboard with hesitation. He'd learned the letters of this species as he taught the Covenant language to Kira, but the knowledge was hazy in his head. He fumbled around a bit until he'd finally told the computer to search the words "human biology".

The computer returned the results and Zhar plugged in something similar to a flash drive and downloaded the information as he told the computer to search and download the results for "human medicine" and "human diet". He heard metal boots approaching the room as the download finished and he quickly hid the portable memory unit in his suit and started a new search for "A.I. technology".

"Zhar, what have you been doing?" Shipmaster K'til himself had come aboard and found Zhar had strayed from his group. The hot headed Sangheili was clearly angry and demanded a good reason that this warrior was not in battle at the moment.

"I'd run into a group of those heretics and was separated from my group. By the time I'd finished with the humans, my group had gone and I found this computer." He glanced back at the screen to see the start of a conversation rather than search results. He frowned and turned around completely to read the text.

_A.I. Millie: Looking for me?_

Zhar hesitantly typed back a reply as the Shipmaster approached, confused by the text.

_Are you the A.I. of this ship?_

_A.I. Millie: Yes, I am. Since when do Covenant soldiers know how to type in English?_

_That matters not. Where are you? Where is the bridge?_

_A.I. Millie: You think I'd really tell you? Besides, your little buddies are almost here and the Captain has ordered the system wipe. Goodbye, Split-jaw._

Zhar growled at the reply and opened up his communicator. "L'kil, you must hurry! The humans are starting to delete the database." Zhar did not hear the reply as gunfire began depleting his shields. All of the Sangheili took cover and several threw plasma grenades at the humans.

One or two screams were heard as the grenades exploded and the crossfire continued. Zhar waited for his shield to recharge before activating his sword. He ran straight through the middle of the group of marines and sliced up the few on his right with one swing. He turned around as the bodies fell into a bloody mess on the floor, his shields half gone.

The other marines immediately turned their attention on him. A Zealot armed with a sword was much more dangerous than a Shipmaster with a rifle and grenades. The marines all opened fire on him as the Shipmaster's squad leapt from cover to finish them off from behind. The last marine lost his gun hand just as Zhar's shields failed.

"That act was reckless. You were either brave or lucky, Zhar, that your blood is not on the floor with theirs." The Shipmaster had a tone somewhere between scolding and praising. Zhar could not figure out which.

"I did what was necessary to eliminate them quickly. Besides, why should I have all the honor and exercise? There's plenty to go around here."

The Shipmaster grunted in agreement. "Now, what was that you were doing on that computer?"

"It seems the A.I. on this vessel decided it wanted a chat before the humans purged it. I hope L'kil managed to find the bridge before they could begin deleting the system."

"Then let us press forward so we may see for ourselves." The Shipmaster took the lead and Zhar fell in step behind him with his squad. Every few hallways, another group of marines would appear and meet Zhar's sword or a hail of plasma fire. By the time the group got to the bridge, Zhar's sword was dripping with red blood, and the rifles were splattered with the cooling crimson. Zhar pressed the glowing green button that opened the door.

"By the Gods…," the shocked whisper came from someone behind Zhar as his mandibles slackened. He looked around the room to see the dark purple blood of his comrades all over the walls as well as the bloody remains of the humans on the bridge. Some of the bodies looked as if they had been mutilated with a shredder after seeing how many bullets had torn them open.

The group moved silently through the mess to determine if anyone was still alive, and if the system had been wiped. The science officer slipped past Zhar and began working on the computer. Zhar heard a soft groan and followed the noise to a horribly wounded Sangheili. "Zhar, is that you?" The hoarse voice was half choked by the blood rising in his throat, but the voice was Finn's without a doubt.

Zhar knelt beside his friend, inspecting the wounds. Finn gently brushed his hand away. "No, it's too late for me," his voice barely a whisper. "I shielded L'kil from the grenades. Perhaps it was in vain."

"The Gods smile upon you for your faith and sacrifice, Finn." Zhar gave him a weak smile, hoping to ease Finn's nerves a bit as he lay dying.

Finn chuckled lightly. "Didn't I once say your career would be the death of me one day? You convinced me to go by saying it would be worth it."

"Was it worth it?"

"If I'd known then what would happen in the end… I still would have gotten on that transport to the first mission." Finn smiled. "Thank you, for everything you did for me, Zhar." His eyes closed, and sighed. Finn did not stir again.

Zhar's smile faded away instantly, and felt a hand rest on his right shoulder. He looked up to see the Shipmaster with sympathy in his eyes. "I know how close he was to you, Zhar. We need to get off of this vessel though. There is nothing here for us."

Reluctantly, Zhar stood and followed K'til, choking back the sadness that welled up within him. Finn had been a brother to him. Perhaps not a blood brother, but he was kin to him. As the Phantom took the team back to the Cruiser, the remaining Sangheili clasped forearms and spoke for those they had lost.

The Shipmaster began, "May the Great Journey await you, may your enemies writhe in hell, and your line continue forward, and gain honor…"

Another Sangheili joined in. "May your scattered body go, beyond the limits of your mind…"

"Beyond the limits of our worlds…"

Zhar spoke next. "To the places our ancestors dreamt and sang of…"

"And the Prophets speak of…," the Shipmaster finished.

The Sangheili dropped their arms and the Shipmaster spoke again. "We have lost many of our brothers. Their faith will lead them along the path in death as we do in life. We will meet them again when the Great Journey begins."

* * *

><p>I made myself cry when I wrote this part about Finn, so forgive me if it's not a pretty picture.<p>

As usual, leave me a review! Every comment counts! :D

Chapter 10 will be along soon. :)


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 is here! :D

First off, I swear there are no more fairies.

Second, no reviews for chapter 9? D: aww...

Third, enjoy the story! Especially since there are no more fairies! xD

* * *

><p>Chapter 10:<p>

"The Lekgolo were _eating_ the Halo," Sarah nearly screamed in shock.

Lira nodded her head. "Some wouldn't touch it, and others would only be able to eat the metal, nothing else. The Prophets allowed the ones that didn't touch the metal to enter the Covenant while the others were destroyed. The Prophets then turned most of the Lekgolo colonies into Megalekgolo."

"How does a whole colony of worms act as one person?"

"… I'm not entirely sure," Lira paused a moment. "I know that they work together to operate one body. They decide together when to strike and when to block or move."

"What about what the book says here," Sarah drifted her fingers across a few words. "It says something about Bond Brothers. If they're made of Lekgolo colonies, how can the Megalekgolo have siblings?"

"They aren't exactly siblings. Bond Brothers come from a colony of Lekgolo that has gotten so large that it had to split into two groups. Bond Brothers are therefore the same colony, but in two separate forms. Because they are from the same colony, they are fiercely protective of each other. If one of them falls, the other will certainly seek immediate revenge on the one who took down his brother."

"Sangheili don't behave like that?" Sarah seemed confused again.

"An honorable Sangheili will not outright throw himself at an enemy over a friend's death in battle. Such a move is foolish and will more than likely get him killed as well. Sure, some will pursue revenge for the ones they lost, but they wait for the opportunity to arise and then dispose of the killer honorably rather than risking his life in such a reckless manner."

"How come there aren't ever any girls in the fighting?" The girl's questions seemed to be following their own path rather than sticking to what they had just read.

Lira sat straighter. "I am Lira Asumee," she stretched the "ee" sound in her last name. "I am a fully trained Swordsman as my father is. The only reason I am not out fighting in the war is because my father wanted me to stay and sharpen my skills more. It is true there are very few female warriors, and even fewer chances for us to prove ourselves ready for battle. That is why I did not protest against his request. I knew that if I was going to prove myself, I'd better have the necessary skills honed to perfection."

Sarah frowned. "Doesn't the added part to your last name mean you were already in the military service?"

Lira's pride faded slightly. "I have done military service before. I was fighting my fourth battle on another ship. My blade sliced many enemies in my path." She saw the little girl sitting attentively, listening to the story, and was careful to avoid saying who exactly she was fighting.

"A rather large armored being attacked me from my left. I was startled and made a hasty swing at his face. The blade grazed one of my squad mates in his side where there was no metal, and the armored being stopped my sword hand inches from his helmet. He twisted my wrist until it broke and the sword fell. He plucked my weapon out of the air just before it could hit the floor. My squad mate shoved me out of the way as the armored thing brought the sword up, and caught him in his chest instead of mine."

Lira sighed and took another deep breath, as if she were struggling to control herself. "I was sent home because my inability to control myself had taken Takn Moramee's life, and my honor." Sarah suddenly felt sorry she had asked such a question and remained quiet for the rest of the lesson, only speaking to show she understood what she was learning.

Lira put the books away when they were done with the lesson. She turned to look at the quiet child as she did so and sighed. It was only an honest question and Lira had made it look like it was something that should not ever be asked. She sat next to the girl again and said, "I'm sorry if it seemed I was angry at you. I was not. I was angry at my own mistake. I'd known Takn since we were little and my haste had cost him dearly." Sarah looked up into her big blue eyes and saw the pain pulsing in them.

"He was a close friend of yours. I can see why you would be so upset."

Lira nodded and saw it was around noon outside. "Well, we finished what Zhar said to do. Would you like it if we went over to the forest?"

"Can we bring T'rok and the other boys?" Sarah's eyes lit up with excitement.

"Sure, why not," Lira smiled, storing away her thoughts about the battle, and followed Sarah as she sprinted out of the room to get her friends.

oo00oo

The group of six walked under the cover of the thick-leaved branches in early afternoon. A cool breeze swept through forest, rustling the leaves above them, and sent a few orange and brown leaves twirling to the ground around them. Winter wouldn't be far off now. Sarah shrugged the thought away. It would only get a little chillier. Rarely was there ever any snow in this part of the planet.

Sarah ran ahead with the other boys, and Lira jogged behind them, watching them race to the lake. T'rok got there first and jumped right into the cold water, taking special care to not go too far out from shore. Sarah and J'raa jumped in next followed by S'rir. L'kar and Lira sat on the grass under the shade of one of the trees.

T'rok splashed his three friends. When the water settled again, Sarah was nowhere to be seen. He whipped around in every direction, looking to see if the creature had reached this far up to take her again. Something hit a nerve in the center of his back and he jerked up involuntarily. He heard a splash behind him and then giggling. "I got you!"

T'rok turned around, releasing a sigh of relief. "Don't do that again please. I thought that monster had gotten you again," he said, his eyes full of concern instead of anger.

"They don't come up this far though," J'raa said. "They're too big."

"I know that," T'rok answered. "It's just too soon after the last accident to play like that."

"I'll be okay," Sarah said, "I won't go out so far again. At least now I can practice swimming some more. Want to race?" Her eyes gleamed with joy at the thought of friendly competition.

S'rir and J'raa seemed to be up for the challenge and T'rok finally answered, "Okay, we can race. Only near the shore line though. We can't go any further than five feet away from it."

"Great!" Sarah swam over to where the start line would be. "One lap to see who the fastest swimmer is."

The three boys lined up next to her. She shouted "Go!" when they were ready, and off they went. She fell behind almost immediately, T'rok was in first place and S'rir and J'raa were battling for second. Sarah kicked her legs faster, but it accomplished little. She decided if she was going to finish last, she might as well have fun.

She drew in a deep breath and dove under the surface, still pumping her legs. She stayed under for about ten seconds before coming up for air again. She had gotten much closer to the group than she would have if she'd been swimming normally. She dove under again and swam further. She came up again and the boys were now just twenty feet ahead.

She took another breath to dive under again, but stopped. Something felt wrong. She sat still and listened to the area around her, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She figured it must be just paranoia from before when the sea creature dragged her off. She dove under again and came up a few seconds later to see the boys were nearly at the finish line. She kept swimming and crossed last a minute or two after S'rir.

"You'll definitely need more practice," J'raa commented.

"She's getting better though," S'rir added, "At least she won't drown herself."

Sarah was letting the water flood over her shoulders so they weren't so cold. "Swimming is fun and easy. Of course I'm going to get better at it."

L'kar was standing under one of the trees as his friends splashed around in the water. He found a low branch and jumped up to grab it. His hands gripped the branch and he tried to pull himself up, but did not have the strength to. He swung one foot up and then the rest of himself as he had done before. He jumped to the next branch, and then hopped up a level. He jumped against the trunk to go up another level, but his hoofed foot slipped on the smooth bark and he fell back down to the first branch.

He took a moment to recover before jumping to another branch. How had he done a race through the branches before if he could not pull himself up quickly? Perhaps it was his anger that drove him and made him focus on getting to the target rather than what he was doing. Or maybe he had been just plain lucky that day; at least until his target escaped.

He glanced back down at the group and picked out the near-black hair among the bodies and mist. Everything came so easily to her and she was a human on top of that. He didn't dislike her, he hated everything about her. She shouldn't be here learning Sangheili fighting techniques. She shouldn't even be alive at this point. He growled loud enough that only he could hear it. There wasn't anything he could do about it but practice and prove that she wasn't the only good fighter around.

oo00oo

The sun was hanging low in the sky when Lira finally called the kids together to go home. The four soaking ones wrung out what they could of their clothes and ran ahead a bit to dry themselves further. They came to a stop at the forest edge to rest a moment and let Lira and L'kar catch up.

Lira looked around and saw the streaks of pink and orange that told her sunset was near. She moved toward the town again, but stopped when a blur of gray caught her eye. She followed the blur to the town's center and recognized a Jiralhanae Chieftain with a Gravity Hammer at his side and a patrol group with him. He was speaking to the Kaidon of the town.

Lira frowned. What were the Jiralhanae doing here? They were not supposed to be in this region of Sangheilios. The Chieftain seemed to get angry, and reached for his hammer. Lira prepared herself to run towards him, but relaxed when she saw one of the other Jiralhanae talk the Chieftain out of the attack. The Kaidon said something else before walking away. The Chieftain growled and left in a Phantom with his group.

"What was that all about," T'rok asked.

"As long as they are gone, I do not care." Lira took the boys to their homes and finally walked with Sarah back to Zhar's home and locked the door behind them. She gave the girl a Sunset fruit and took one for herself to her room. When she had finished, she felt under her bed for the cool, smooth bar of metal she had hidden there. She felt reassured her sword was there and settled into her bed to sleep.

oo00oo

Sarah climbed up into the storage space again when she was sure Lira had gone to sleep. She took out her data pad and wrote another journal entry.

_Today Lira told me about the Lekgolo and how they joined the Covenant. She also explained why her last name has the "ee" at the end even though she's not out fighting right now. It's not a pretty story. We went down to the lake again after that and I raced T'rok, S'rir, and J'raa around the shoreline. Of course I finished last since I haven't practiced a lot. _

_When we got back, there were some of those giant apes they call Jiralhanae in the town. The Chieftain seemed really angry about something but the Kaidon seemed more interested in making them leave-_

She heard a crackling noise outside. She saved the entry as it was and placed the pad back in the hiding place before crawling down into her room and looking out the window. The Kaidon had his sword out and was growling at the Chieftain in the dim town lights. The Chieftain roared and swung his hammer. The Kaidon dodged it and swung his sword, making a deep gash in the Chieftain's side.

Sarah ran out of her room and into Lira's. "Lira, wake up! The Chieftain is back and he's fighting the Kaidon!"

Lira opened her eyes immediately and got up. "Is it the same one from before?"

"I think it is. I'm not sure."

Lira reached under her bed and retrieved her sword. She walked downstairs and opened the front door. The Kaidon had downed several Jiralhanae and was battling the Chieftain. The Kaidon swung the killing blow, but a plasma bullet splattered his brains across the square before the sword could meet the Chieftain's neck. Lira gasped in shock as the body fell and then snapped back to look at the Chieftain as he roared. A wave of Jiralhanae appeared over the northern hills armed with Carbines, Spikers, Plasma Rifles, and several Beam Rifles.

Sarah had seen the wave appear through Lira's window and she raced back into her room to get her data pad. She strapped it inside the pocket of her pants and hopped down to the floor as Lira appeared.

"We need to leave. Now," she said and herded the child outside. Several groups had broken off from the wave and were breaking into the houses. They heard the screams and gunfire coming from within, and saw only the Jiralhanae emerge from them. Some Sangheili had gotten rifles and grenades themselves and were defending their homes. Lira spotted Ytol slicing through the enemies with his sword and then a familiar group of children fleeing the destroyed homes.

"Go with T'rok and the other boys. You must hide deep in the forest. I will come find you when I have finished here."

"What will you do," Sarah looked up at her with terrified eyes as she asked the question.

"I will stay and fight. You are not ready for battle yet, and certainly not ready to face Jiralhanae." Sarah opened her mouth to object, but Lira didn't give her the chance to speak. "Don't argue, just run!" The tone grew sharp and at that, Sarah ran to T'rok and his group. Lira hadn't wanted to be that way, but how else would she get her to leave?

Lira activated her blade and sliced the head off a Jiralhanae that was about to shoot Ytol in the back. Ytol looked back at her. "I thought they had taken your sword as well," he commented.

"I guess I was lucky they seemed to forget about it at the time."

Ytol grunted and roared loud enough for all the Sangheili in the area to hear him. Those that were not focused on their aim turned to him. "Brothers, take up arms and join with me to drive these brutes out of our homes! They will not overrun us, and we will not give up what is ours without a fight!" Several roared their support and ran to his side, as they had all heard of Ytol and his skills as a leader and warrior despite his old age. More Sangheili came out of their homes with rifles and a few with swords. Ytol roared again and led the charge against the attacking Jiralhanae.

Lira followed closely, keeping the line tight and strong with the others. One group of brutes after another fell as the Sangheili pressed forward through the onslaught. Several unlucky warriors fell with their enemies, and the line grew smaller. There were twenty armed Sangheili left by the time they'd forced the brutes to the northern gates.

The brutes retreated unexpectedly, leaving behind a group of very confused Sangheili. Only Ytol seemed to understand what they were doing. "They are regrouping. Prepare for the final wave. They will put their best forward now." Lira shook her sword once, and a pool of red blood formed on the ground below it. She heard a twig snap, and instantly looked to her left where another forest started. There was nothing in her sight. She crept over to where she thought the noise came from and sniffed the air.

"Lira, _get back here_," Ytol hissed at her.

Lira gripped her sword tighter as she got closer to the undergrowth. The reek of overgrown ape was overwhelming her senses as she brushed aside a bush. A brute launched himself at her and knocked her to the ground hard enough to make her drop her sword. The sword sputtered and died on the ground as the inner mechanisms were knocked out of place. Ytol roared in anger and sprinted toward them.

Lira tried to get up, but the Jiralhanae only kicked her down again as he raised his Gravity Hammer. She suddenly felt the weight disappear from her chest and looked up to see the brute trying to reach something on his back. She got up quickly and inspected her sword. It was useless and she knew not how to repair such a device. Ytol offered her a Carbine, and she gladly took it. One shot through the eye socket was all it took to put the beast down. As the body fell, the two Sangheili saw what it was that had distracted it.

"We thought you could use some help," J'raa looked at them, his face blank.

"What do you mean 'we'," Lira's voice was filled with worry. "Where are the others?"

"I imagine they're on their way to the Phantoms where the Jiralhanae are regrouping," he answered. "We planned to have S'rir and L'kar distract them while Kira and T'rok take the weapons."

Ytol gathered the other Sangheili and headed towards the hum of the Phantoms with Lira and J'raa. He turned to the boy and said, "You realize that was foolish what you did? You could have gotten yourself killed as well as Lira."

J'raa turned back to him and said, "Aren't we taught to fight and either win or die trying? Besides, even if he had gotten me, Lira would have gotten away. And even if S'rir and L'kar don't make it, T'rok and Kira will hold all the weapons. We will have the advantage."

Ytol sighed "Hmm," and heard the roars of angry Jiralhanae. He paused for a moment at the top of a hill and saw the brutes running around in chaos. L'kar was practically biting a brute's head off at the neck as Kira plucked the guns off the ape's belt, and S'rir was dodging in between several Chieftains and their Gravity Hammers while T'rok raided one of the Phantoms.

Ytol raced down the hill and launched himself at the nearest brute. The rest of the battle force followed and turned the tables on the Jiralhanae in an instant. Lira shot several in the head and a few closer ones in an unmentionable area. She then finished them off when they fell to the ground. One brute blindsided her and threw her against a Phantom. She fell to the ground disoriented and tried to get up. Her vision cleared and she saw a Gravity Hammer raised above her.

oo00oo

Ytol was covered in red blood from so many enemies attacking him. He knocked down one after the other with his sword and turned to see who needed an assist when he was done. He heard a loud clang and spun around to see Lira lying in a heap near the Phantom, and then he saw the brute with the massive hammer. "Lira, move," he shouted and charged at the attacker.

The hammer came down, and a thundering sound came from it along with an EMP force that threw Ytol back a bit. He shook his head and saw the Jiralhanae laughing. The brute lifted his hammer away and kicked the crushed body saturated in purple blood.

Ytol felt his temper boil and he tackled the brute. He sliced the head off of the hammer, and then beat the alien repeatedly before delivering the killing blow. He crouched by Lira, inspecting the wound. Her blue eyes were now dull, and her chest was completely caved in. He sighed and closed her eyes before getting up again. The children were nowhere to be seen, and he saw that not many of either side remained.

"Ytol watch out behind you!"

He turned and raised his sword, but was not quick enough. Ytol's body was flung through the air by another hammer and his head struck the thick metal of the Phantom. He saw the world fade into darkness around him, and prayed to the gods before slipping into unconsciousness.

oo00oo

Ytol woke up with a terrible pain in his chest and right arm and smelled the stench of burnt metal. His vision cleared enough to see his forearm was sitting in an awkward way and there were two burns on his chest armor like something had pressed the energy sword blades against it. He realized next that the early light of dawn was appearing and he was being dragged across the grassy hillside.

When they paused at the top, Ytol struck out at one of the people dragging him. "You're awake," the Sangheili looked surprised to see Ytol was awake so soon. The two Sangheili helped him stand up.

Ytol looked around at the battle field. The Phantoms were still there, but nearly all of the bodies were gone. Lira's was nowhere to be seen. "What happened after I went down?"

The other Sangheili answered this time. "We burned the bodies of our enemies and gathered our dead in the town square so we may bury them properly. You fought even better than I imagined you would, Ytol."

Ytol glanced at him at the mention of his name. "And who might you be?"

"I am Shipmaster Voro Vanorree. I was home taking some time off before all this happened."

"Did either of you see what happened to the children that helped in the attack?"

Voro nodded and sent the other Sangheili to retrieve the other bodies. "I sent them back into the forest with a few weapons and gave the others to our brothers." He stopped Ytol from running into the forest after them. "We will find them later. Right now, that arm needs attention."

Ytol sighed and followed the Shipmaster to the town. He saw nearly the whole square was lined with the dead, and looked away once he saw Lira's corpse. A medic checked him over and bandaged the broken limb in a makeshift cast and sling. The medic released him once he was sure nothing else was broken.

Ytol took another look around and saw many damaged buildings around the gate. Some had even collapsed and were still burning. He looked over at Zhar's home to find the gate was ajar, but was otherwise untouched as well as the other houses beyond his. _Not all has been lost, but we have lost much indeed._ Zhar would not be happy when he returned home.

The remaining Sangheili spent the rest of the day clearing the debris and bodies and taking whatever weapons still had ammo. They would not be caught unawares again.

Voro walked to the clear side of the square and called everyone together. "It is getting late," he started as the sun began to set. "We will have to bury the dead in the morning. For now, we will need to post two guards in case they try to attack us again tonight." Several hands immediately shot up and Voro picked two of them for the first shift. "As for the rest of you, we will sleep lightly in our homes and be ready to fight on a moment's notice."

The group broke up and Voro turned to Ytol. "The search will have to wait as well. We can't afford to lose such good warriors now." Ytol nodded and walked back to Zhar's home. He figured if Zhar checked the house first, someone should be there to explain exactly what was happening. He inspected the rooms of house, but found nothing out of place. He lied down on the couch and shut his eyes. It was still a few hours before he could finally sleep.

oo00oo

The cold wind swept through the forest, making Sarah shiver. She wished she hadn't been right about winter being so close. T'rok pulled her forward with him so she wouldn't fall behind. In his other hand he carried a Spiker. In front of them was J'raa with a red Plasma Rifle, L'kar had a Needler, and S'rir was in the lead with a Carbine. Sarah had a Spiker, but it remained strapped to her leg since she didn't know how to aim and fire it yet. Though if an enemy got close enough for her to take the gun out, aiming it wouldn't matter much then, she reflected. In one pocket was her data pad safely tucked away, and in the other was spare ammo for all the weapons.

"Should we stop for the night," S'rir asked as he glanced over his shoulder at the group.

"We probably should," T'rok answered. "It would be worse if we fell ill from the cold."

S'rir nodded and spotted a tree with an opening in its trunk at ground level. It looked as if something had carved out the wood, but seemed abandoned. He jogged over to it with the rest of the group and slid in first. There was a smell of squirrel, but it was stale. It wasn't the best hiding place ever, but it was a lot warmer than standing outside all night.

"Is there anything to cover the entrance with," he called out.

J'raa looked around and answered, "Would a boulder help?"

"It would, but only if we can move it in a hurry."

J'raa and L'kar rolled the boulder over to the tree as Sarah and T'rok crawled into the carved space. The boys followed them and rolled the boulder over behind them, testing that they could roll it away again several times before leaving it alone. They settled down for the night, and fell into an uneasy sleep.

Sarah heard it first. The sound of marching feet was near and she figured there were at least three people out there. She nudged T'rok awake next to her and signaled for him to stay quiet and listen. T'rok heard the footsteps and woke the others. The children sat with their weapons ready and were looking at the boulder, waiting to see if it would be moved. A pair of feet stopped right at the boulder and they heard someone sniffing the air. The feet shifted and the boulder moved slightly.

The group raised their weapons as the boulder was rolled away. A very surprised Sangheili looked at the five armed with guns and said, "Well, it seems like you all had everything handled after all."

S'rir recognized the visitor. "Shipmaster Voro is that you?"

The Sangheili nodded and Ytol appeared behind him with the medic. "Are any of you injured," the Shipmaster asked. The children shook their heads and crawled out of the shelter. Ytol looked relieved to see they had all made it despite their assault plan. They took the children back to the town. Nearly all of the debris had been cleared up and the bodies had been moved into an abandoned home for the time being.

T'rok looked at those left in the town and then turned to the Shipmaster. "Where are our parents?"

"And where's Lira," Sarah asked.

Ytol answered, "They died defending the town." He sighed as he spoke, clearly upset at the near two hundred people that had died in the skirmish.

The boys looked away and Sarah choked back the building grief and blinked away the forming tears.

Ytol spoke to the boys again, "You four are more than welcome to stay in Zhar's home with us for now until we can get this all sorted out." He walked to the gate to the house and shut it once the five kids were in the yard. They went inside and Ytol gave them all something to eat before sitting on the couch again.

Sarah sat next to him a few minutes later with clouded eyes. If Zhar was a father to her, Ytol was her uncle, just not as big of a teddy bear as Zhar was.

"Zhar will return soon, Kira," he said. "He will be proud of what you did in battle at your age and size. You were brave to be that close to an enraged Jiralhanae, but you also were careful to avoid being harmed. I suppose that time I was impressed by your actions," he grinned.

Sarah looked up at his big gray eyes and smiled back when she saw he'd meant it. She wiped away the forming tears again and shuddered to keep herself in check. Warriors didn't cry. Even if they did, it wouldn't be in the presence of another person.

"There will be time to mourn," he said, rubbing her back to make her sleepy. "For now, be thankful you are alive, and rest." Sarah fell asleep a moment later and Ytol carried her up to her room.

oo00oo

"Zhar, I must speak with you alone," K'til said. "It's urgent."

Zhar puzzled at his words but nodded and followed the Shipmaster to his quarters. Once the doors closed, K'til spoke. "I have received rather disturbing news from the High Council. The town of Asum was attacked by the Jiralhanae the other night. The Sangheili managed to fight them off, but there were heavy casualties. Only about fifty survived the onslaught."

Zhar felt as if his hearts had broken. First Finn had been taken from him, and now his home town had been nearly destroyed. What next? "That's nearly two hundred dead," he whispered. "Did they say who had survived?"

"I only know that there are more civilians down there than soldiers right now. Your transport will leave in a few minutes and you can see for yourself who's left. You may go now, Zhar. I pray the gods light your path."

"And yours," Zhar answered before bowing in the usual manner and darting out of the room to the hanger. He twitched in his seat, anxious to get home. A grueling thirty minutes later, he was dropped off at the gate to the town. The pools of purple and red blood reeked and made him even more anxious. He jogged past the damaged and destroyed homes to his house and went inside. Ytol was sitting on the couch in the dim evening light. "Ytol?"

His friend looked up at him. "Hello Zhar."

"What happened? Are Lira and Kira alright?"

Ytol stiffened a bit and Zhar noticed the bandaged arm. "Those brutes attacked the Kaidon late at night. He had nearly beaten the first attackers, but they had no honor and had a sniper kill the Kaidon before he could kill the Chieftain. From there, the real battle started and we forced them out of the gates. The battle lasted all night."

Zhar's shoulders slumped. "What about my daughters?"

Ytol ignored the plural Zhar had used and continued, "Lira fought hard like the one who trained her. She did not survive the battle though. A Chieftain came up her left and threw her against the Phantom. He finished her with his Gravity Hammer."

Zhar's legs buckled and he sat next to his friend. "And what about Kira," he asked with a voice filled with grief. "Is she dead as well?"

"No, she is asleep upstairs. She did well in the battle too."

Zhar looked at his friend with wide eyes. "You let her fight?"

"Not exactly," Ytol said. "Lira had sent her and the boys to hide in the forest, but they came back and executed their own plan." He told Zhar about how they had acted in their first real battle and where they found them armed with weapons earlier that day.

Zhar relaxed a little. At least they were alive, and for that he thanked the gods.

"I also said the boys could stay a while," Ytol added. "Their parents died in the fight as well."

Zhar nodded. "They can stay. They still have training to finish as well, right?"

"I can take over their training if you want to take over Kira's," Ytol suggested.

Zhar's memory again flashed in his head. He remembered something he kept in storage for many years from one of his first explorations. "I can do that. Perhaps I can teach her how to use a sword now."

It was Ytol's turn to look surprised. "A sword already? Are you sure about that?"

"From what you told me, I think so. If she can get past Jiralhanae, surely she can handle a sword?"

His friend grunted in agreement. "When will we start their training again?"

"In a few days I think. We will all need some recovery time." He spent the next hour telling Ytol about the mission he'd been called away on, and about what had happened to Finn.

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><p>Leave me a review please! Every one helps! :D<p>

Hope you enjoyed! ^_^


	11. Chapter 11

GoG ToXiC: "You need a new paragraph every time someone new starts talking." ::: I thank you so much for pointing that error out to me, and I finally got around to fixing the writing structure and the other chapters too!. Let me know if I missed something else. :D

"Might we be witnessing the beginning of the Great Schism?" ::: No, not quite yet, but we will get to that point. If anyone reading my story has read 'The Cole Protocol', they should be able to figure out the general year the story is at now. ;)

Side note: I told ya I'd fix the Prophet situation. :P

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><p>Chapter: 11<p>

"This is by far the _biggest_ foul-up in your entire career!" The voice thundered and echoed around the room. Virtue was very cross.

"She did not deserve to walk the Path. She deserved to die," Solitude exclaimed. "Truth, Mercy and Regret would agree!"

"Would we?"

The two San-Shyuum turned to see the Prophet of Truth himself coming towards them with Regret and Mercy at his side. "Who is this 'she' that you are talking about?"

Virtue spoke before Solitude could open his mouth again. "We were discussing a child by the name of Kira Asum that was being trained. Solitude refused to listen to our plan and ordered some of the Jiralhanae clans to attack the Sangheili town she was at. There were few survivors."

"Tell me more about this child. What is so bad about her that enraged Solitude so much?"

"Well…," Virtue started, "She's a human female-"

"What," Truth sat straight up in his chair and his temper began to rise.

"She is a human female," Virtue repeated. "However, I have a plan on how to use her to our advantage."

Truth relaxed a little. "Go on."

"She would train with the Sangheili and then we could send her back to the humans to infiltrate their command centers and send back information. We could use her to find the location of their home world and then burn it to ashes."

Truth considered the words carefully as Regret and Mercy glanced at each other with unreadable expressions.

"There were no problems in her training? No resistance?"

"There were none at all. She took up the customs of the Sangheili as if they were her own culture."

Truth nodded his head and sighed. "You three are relieved of duty then. We will be here for a while until the next glassing campaign."

"As you wish," Virtue stated and left with Solitude scowling at him and Temperance following.

Mercy maneuvered his chair to sit next to Truth as Regret went to his room, shaking his head. "Surely something will be done about this," Mercy asked. "A human child within our Covenant is unacceptable. Especially after hearing what the Oracle said."

"Of course something will be done," Truth said. "I just want to see how this goes first. This plan is giving me new ideas already."

"What do you mean?"

"If she can send information to us, then perhaps we can get others to do it too. I'm sure the human rebels would be more than pleased to have weapons more advanced than the military they are trying to overthrow."

Mercy caught on quickly. "Ah, you mean a trading system. Trade weapons in exchange for information."

Truth grinned. "And we can put trackers on those weapons as well." He switched on his holographic computer and pulled up the list of survivors from the partially destroyed town. Kira Asum appeared on the list. "It seems Solitude's plan did not go as well as he had hoped. That's good for us."

Mercy seemed puzzled. "How will we even establish contact with the rebels without causing a firefight?"

"Leave that to me," Truth answered as he looked through the files of Kig-Yar Shipmasters.

oo00oo

It had taken a week to clean up the town and bury each body. Zhar sat in the library, still sore from the loss of Lira. He was looking at a picture in his data pad of a deep blue-eyed Sangheili holding a blanket with a tiny baby wrapped in it. He sighed, "Naki, what am I to do now?"

Lira had looked just like her mother, and he missed them both dearly. He was thankful to have had his daughter for as long as he did, and that she had met an honorable end. Naki had not been as fortunate.

He remembered the day Naki had fallen ill. Even though she'd said she was cold, her temperature had gone up significantly. Her skin had paled, and there were rare occasions when she would not cough or sneeze. He sat by her side day and night trying to cool her head and give her the medicine the doctor had given them. He helped her battle the virus for a month before it finally took her as she slept.

He'd felt helpless when she passed. He didn't know how to care for a child at the time, and he was at the beginning of his training with the sword. All he knew was the three-month-old baby girl was _his_ daughter and he would do anything to protect her and raise her himself.

Zealot males were not supposed to let their children know who they were, and so R'kor had approached Zhar the day he finished training and threatened to kill Lira if he did not surrender her. Now that just would not do. Zhar raised his new sword and battled R'kor.

The swords sparked as they clashed, and metal smoldered as several close calls were made. Zhar lunged at R'kor and the older Sangheili raised his sword to block it. Zhar aimed his sword lower at the last second; digging the tip of his blade into R'kor's left side.

R'kor roared in pain and fell to the ground clutching the wound. Zhar grabbed R'kor by the collar of his chest armor and brought him closer to his face to make his message perfectly clear.

"Lira is _my_ daughter and she _will_ remain with me. I do not care what the rule says; you will _not_ take her from me!" No Sangheili had dared challenge him after that when he snarled, left R'kor on the floor of the training area and walked home with the gurgling one-year-old girl in his arms.

Zhar grinned at the memory. He wondered how much life would be different if he had not fought to keep Lira. He then realized that he would have been miserable. He would have regretted every day of his life if he had just let her go. He would never have taken up teaching; he would never have gone into the exploration career to earn more money to care for his child, and he would never have met Kira.

One decision had changed the entire course of his life. He was thankful he had broken that one rule when he realized how much different things would be if he hadn't.

He looked at the picture once more before putting the pad back in his desk. He stood and walked down the hallway in the evening light to Sarah's room. He opened the door to find her sitting cross-legged on the bed in a meditative state.

_If only all children her age would understand and not protest against the practice_, he thought to himself. He walked over and gently shook her shoulder a minute later.

She opened her eyes and smiled at him. "Hello."

Zhar returned the smile. "I think it is time for you to learn how to use a weapon."

"Really," she asked with excitement. "You'll teach me that?"

Zhar nodded. "I'm taking over your training since Ytol will be training your friends. Come with me. I have a storage room you can pick from to learn first." He walked out of the room as Sarah slid off her bed and followed. They walked past the library into the very back of the house. Zhar flicked on the lights in the blue-gray room, and the walls were nearly completely covered with carefully organized weapons.

Sarah's eyes darted around, taking in the Carbines, Plasma Rifles, Plasma Pistols, and Needlers. There was even a Fuel Rod Gun and a Plasma Grenade Launcher. One thing stood out to her though. On a holder below the Energy Sword was a long and thin dark sheath.

She walked toward it and carefully picked it up. The leather felt smooth and thick until she hit metal at the top. The simple flat hand guard was made of dark gray metal and the grip was covered with the same dark leather as the sheath. She pulled the sword out and felt it slip apart into two swords. Zhar helped her separate the swords without dropping them and put the sheath back on its hold.

Sarah lifted the swords and readjusted her grip so she could get used to the weight. She noticed then that the blades were as black as the night sky and didn't shine very much even though they were polished to perfection.

"Are they too heavy," Zhar asked.

She tore from her thoughts and shook her head. "They feel just right to handle. Where did you get them? They aren't like Energy Swords."

"They are not indeed," he started. "I got those swords a long time ago during one of my earliest expeditions." They both took a seat as he continued. "I was exploring one of the outer human colonies that had been abandoned for quite a while. I was gathering whatever data I could about how those people had lived and what sort of resources they had. I was drawn to a house slightly different from the others with its red and tan pattern and walked inside to find the swords on the wall above the bed. There's another interesting fact about these swords."

Sarah looked at him questioningly as she handed him the weapons. Zhar took out his own sword and sliced down on the metal. The girl sat wide-eyed when the metal met plasma and did not even smolder. "What sort of metal is that?"

"I do not know. We never found anything like it after I found these," he said. "Would you like to train with these first?" He chuckled when she eagerly nodded her head. "Then I should look into getting you some training armor. You wouldn't want to be harmed with your own blade, or an opponent's," he said as he put the swords back in the sheath and placed it on the wall holder. He walked out of the room with her close behind, and shut and locked the door again after switching the lights off.

Zhar spent the next hour reviewing the data he had downloaded from the ship. He discovered that humans had a diet similar to his, though they were more herbivore-friendly, and there were a few similarities between his biology and theirs as well. The most notable differences were the blood compositions and the fact that humans had only one heart, not two. No wonder humans tired out quicker and couldn't run as fast as Sangheili.

Another thing he noticed was humans, at the very best, grew to about seven feet naturally. The average height was around five feet and five inches; over a foot and a half shorter than Zhar. He frowned at that. Sarah would have to know how to use her swords well and move quickly if she ever needed to fight a Sangheili. The frown faded when he remembered how fast she could move despite running on only one heart.

He opened up another medical file next and found a list of sicknesses and poisons with their cures across the page from them. He selected "Blood Poisoning" and found a whole list of different types of the illness. Many of which said "no cure" next to them.

His eyes found a green creature similar to the one he'd met on the planet he found Kira on and clicked the name "Slizard" next to it. He recognized the blue and purple flowers needed for the cure almost immediately.

Zhar copied the entire database to his pad and let it download as he walked downstairs. He went into the kitchen and found some of the meat from a squirrel-like creature native to the planet in the fridge. It was a sort of sweet meat and decided this was as good of a night as any to see if he could still cook.

About thirty minutes later when he was sure the meat was well-done and not burnt, he put half the meat on both plates and walked upstairs to check on Sarah. He opened the door and she was again in a meditative state. "Kira," he said gently.

The girl turned to him. "You need me for something?"

"It's time for dinner. I want to you try something new," he answered.

She followed him downstairs and smelled the meat just before walking into the kitchen. "What is that smell? It's really good," she commented.

"That is Doarmir meat. Some use the furs for cloaks and such while others simply hunt them for food. Go on and try it."

Sarah sat in her seat and took a bite of the meat. It tasted similar to beef, she realized, and it had a sweetened flavor on top of that, but not so much that it would overpower the main flavor. "It's really good! I like it a lot," she said as she took another bite.

Zhar smiled; satisfied that she was starting to eat like she was supposed to. He didn't know about getting vegetables or milk though since neither was on his planet, and he wasn't exactly up for another adventure. He began eating his own meal, paying attention to the girl to see if the sudden appearance of meat after three years caused any problems or discomfort.

It wasn't until the next morning Sarah told him about the bellyache that kept her up most of the night. He made a warm herbal drink similar to tea for her and handed her a Sunset fruit as well for breakfast. The pain went away after about an hour and that's when Zhar decided to add only a little meat to her meals and once she could handle that, he'd add a little more until she could eat the amount she should without any problems.

Ytol took the boys out to the forest to train them while Zhar took Sarah out to the yard. He gave her a wooden sword in the shape of its hot plasma cousin and held another wooden sword in his right hand. "The armor will not be ready for a few days. In the meantime, we can practice with these."

Sarah adjusted her grip on the smooth wood in her right hand. "It's much lighter than the other swords," she said.

"These are intended for those trying the sword for the first time. You also have practiced with your hands and arms more often than a Sangheili child would since you like hanging from branches and swimming." He settled in a battle stance, ready to leap at a moment's notice. "Now, the first thing you want to worry about is where your blade is." He showed that it should be held about a foot from her side, and aimed at an angle towards the ground when at rest.

Sarah mimicked his form and held the wood away from her as he did. "Good," he said. "Now keep it there for as long as you can and let me know when your muscles start burning. The reason I want you to do this is because a sword will usually stay out once activated in battle. You must be prepared to hold it up for long periods of time."

She nodded and stood still for about thirty minutes before her arm started getting tired. Zhar tapped the arm and she let it drop with the wooden weapon slapping against her leg. Zhar quickly moved it away. "That is the reason we train with wood first. If that had been an actual sword, you'd be lucky to have a leg now." Sarah quickly nodded again, realizing her mistake instead of looking away ashamed as she usually did.

_Perhaps she is becoming as strong in her mind as her body is_, Zhar thought. He was pleased at the progress his adopted daughter was making. She was no longer the small submissive girl he met on the colony, but a faster and stronger warrior in training with one of the most highly regarded weapons in Sangheili culture.

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><p>Please comment and review! :D Every one helps!<p>

Yes, this is a shortish chapter, but I got a little stuck thanks to the Hunger Games books... lol

I remembered where I left off though, so there'll be another chapter soon.

Also, the Doarmir is in fact a native animal of Sangheilios that is captured for its fur. There is so little info on them though that there isn't much description beyond "furry creatures" and no picture to go on (that I can find at least). Improv is always a bit shaky, but I hope it doesn't cause too much disturbance. ;)

If you manage to find something I don't, please feel free to point it out. :)


	12. Chapter 12

A short chapter, I know. I've hit a little bit of a rough patch, but this one is also short because I made an error. I knew I'd heard the name Voro Manatakree before, but not where. Well, Onyx answered that.

Voro's new last name is Vanoree. ;)

xshadowslayerx : "I have a question, are you going to bring up the fact that Sanghelios has higher gravity than other planets? Cause I think that would effect Sarah's growth." ::: Yes, I will, but I'm still researching it a bit. It won't matter for a little while still, so I have some time. :D

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><p>Chapter 12:<p>

The custom wooden armor arrived about a week later. It was not unlike a Minor's armor, and was fitted to a human form. The armor slipped onto her body easily thanks to the material her clothes were made of. Sarah took a minute to walk around once they'd gotten it on her. The wood restricted her movement a bit and she felt stiff in the large chest piece.

Zhar frowned and took the piece off when he saw it covered part of her belly. He shortened it so it came down to just above her stomach like any other Sangheili armor would. She put the piece back on and breathed a sigh of relief to have a little more maneuverability and picked up the wooden sword again.

"Now then," he started. "I can show you how to use your blade." They both assumed their resting stances and Sarah listened attentively. "If an enemy is firing a weapon at you, it would be best to take cover and allow your team mates to force them back, or wait for the pause between barrages if you're alone before you move in. If your enemy is in hiding, you should proceed cautiously and try to take out the greatest threat first. Most of the time, you will not fight another enemy that has a sword, but that doesn't mean it'll never happen."

He swung the wooden sword at her neck, and Sarah brought hers up in time to stop it. Zhar pushed the sword against hers and she ducked to let it pass over her head before going for his exposed belly. Zhar easily side-stepped her and lightly drew the blade along her side when she stumbled past. Sarah landed on the ground on her chest, and she heard her mentor knock on the wooden backside. "You were too hasty in your move. You'd be dead by now if that had been a real fight." He helped her up and they readied their stances again. "Focus, and think before you act."

She tightened the grip on her sword and carefully chose where her target was. She'd been caught off guard slightly when Zhar leapt at her, sword aimed at her chest. She rolled over to her right to dodge him and sprang up to face him again. She switched the sword to her left hand and changed her target as he again charged her. She stepped to his left while aiming her sword to tangle up with his when he passed her.

As the blades smacked on one another she twisted hers so the one in Zhar's hand dislodged slightly. Zhar broke away from her and readjusted his grip before a weight hit him square in the chest, knocking him to the ground. She had his sword hand pinned the best she could with her tiny hand and had her sword near his neck. "How was that," she asked with a grin.

Zhar chuckled, "Better, but if you do not have the weight for it-," He carefully flung her off him so he could get up. "You shouldn't try to pin someone. Especially not someone armed with a sword." He quickly made his way over to her and held her down so she couldn't get up.

She squirmed under his arm, but it would not budge even slightly. She gave up and lay still on the ground. "Again, you could be finished easily here. I liked what you did to try and disarm me though." He lifted her up by her armor and set her on the ground. "You will need to strengthen yourself more if you intend to pin an adult down, though it is never wise when you are so small in comparison."

Sarah dusted herself off and Zhar noticed the small bulge in her arms through the sleeves that showed she had gotten plenty stronger in three years, but not strong enough to pin down her friends for long. _Perhaps she would have been stronger if she had practiced hand-to-hand combat more than climbing and jumping; or at least had been eating right._ He thought to himself.

They spent the rest of the day battling with their wooden swords until Ytol walked through the gate with the exhausted boys. She turned immediately, startled at the sound since she hadn't heard them approach. She felt a kick from behind and landed chest-first on the ground. "Oops," she said as she picked herself up. Zhar had already told her once to not allow herself to be distracted when she was battling an able and armed enemy already. A quick glance and that was all that was allowed.

Zhar gently took the sword from her. "That's enough for today. You are catching on quickly though," he said with a smile. She returned the smile and walked into the house before pulling off the slightly damp wood suit and gratefully collapsing on her bed to rest.

Ytol followed Zhar into the kitchen where he was already preparing dinner. "So, how did she do?"

"She will still need much practice and even then, she will have to get stronger if she ever goes to learn from the school," Zhar said. "She did quite well on her first day though. She's learned some good moves and what ones not to use right now because of her size."

Ytol nodded then saw what is was Zhar was slicing up. "Doarmir meat," he asked.

"While I was on that mission, I managed to get some data on her kind. It said she should be eating things other than fruit, like meat and bread, although some of what she needs is not here on our planet."

"Such as," he friend inquired.

Zhar showed him on his pad what was missing.

"Ah, I see," Ytol said and then looked back at the Doarmir meat being placed in the pan to cook. "I suppose Doarmir is better than Thornbeast though. Thornbeast is made of more fat than meat."

Zhar grunted in agreement and continued his cooking. Ytol raised a brow line at him. "Are you alright?"

Zhar sighed. "She reminds me of Lira when she was younger. That and now that I know what she needs, and that I can't provide some of it, I'm even more concerned about her health. How long will it be before something really goes wrong with her because she hasn't been eating properly?"

Ytol put his good hand on his shoulder. "You worry yourself too much, friend. I can go see K'ran tomorrow about some vitamin pills for her. I have to go see him anyway about my arm," he said, indicating the properly casted limb.

Zhar looked at him gratefully. "Thank you."

In that moment, Ytol saw the same look in Zhar's eyes that had been there when he was raising Lira himself. He knew Zhar was determined to raise Kira as he did with his own daughter before, and telling him otherwise was not an option unless he wanted a fight.

oo00oo

"Now you tell me right away if the ache returns, alright," Zhar asked.

"I will," Sarah said with a smile as she went upstairs. Zhar had given her a smaller portion of meat and had given her more of the tea-like drink in hopes of easing the protein back into her system. He picked up the plates from dinner as the boys went to their rooms as well and began to put away the food when he heard a knock at the door.

He opened it and was surprised to see Voro standing there in a casual blue outfit. "Hello, Shipmaster Voro."

"Greetings, Zhar. I hope I'm not intruding," the Shipmaster said.

"No, of course not, come in."

Voro stepped inside and Zhar shut the door. "Is something the matter, Voro?"

"No, nothing's wrong. I just wish to talk."

"Have you eaten already? The food is still warm," Zhar offered.

"I have, thank you, but I would like an herbal drink if it's not too much trouble. I could use a clear head after last week."

Zhar made a drink for each of them and cleared the table for them to sit and talk. "So, what is it you wanted to talk about," he inquired.

"I was curious about Kira," Voro replied. "I have seen her once in a while, but not often enough it seems because of my duties. I can tell there's more to her than just shakily holding a Spiker."

"Well, what would you like to know?"

"What is she capable of? I mean I saw how quickly and precisely she moved before, but there's more to her, isn't there?"

Zhar thought a moment to organize his words. "She is a considerably bright child. She learns fairly quickly, and knows when to ask questions and when to listen. Her combat abilities are still developing. Right now her strength lies in jumping, running and climbing, although she's learning hand-to-hand combat and swords-."

"Swords," Voro seemed very surprised. "Learning quickly indeed! How well can she handle a blade?"

"She's only just started today. She tried to pin me a few times, but found she's not quite heavy enough for that. She tried to disarm me by tangling the blades and managed to dislodge it enough to distract me while she knocked me over."

Voro chuckled. "Sounds like a sneaky and clever one as well. How old is she now, nine?"

Zhar nodded. "I'm sure she will be even greater in all of her skills before she is eligible to try for the school. That is, if they'll accept her."

Voro sighed, "Ah, yes. She'll have to convince them to teach a human before they'll even consider teaching a female. It will be tough for her to get in. Something tells me she has a good chance though. She had you to raise her, for one. You and Lira also both graduated from that school with no flaws. Not to mention your somewhat final test with R'kor."

He laughed, "What a sight that was. His arrogance needed to be put in check. I was impressed by you that day as well. Your willingness to do anything for your little girl is not a trait shared by all."

"A trait I was lucky to not be killed for," Zhar said warily.

"A trait they rightly feared! A warrior should be proud of his children and train them himself as you did. Naki would be proud of you now for what you did. If you hadn't, we both know she would have fought to the death for Lira, ill or not," Voro said as he took another gulp of the drink.

Zhar looked down at his own cup, smiling. "Yes, she probably would have." He sighed sadly remembering them.

Voro eyed him carefully. "You can't let yourself fall into that abyss, Zhar. It's nearly impossible to escape it and your family and friends would hate to see you fall so far. You still have a reason to continue with your life. You have a little girl and the boys to care for now. They won't replace Naki and Lira, but they need you and Ytol can't train them all himself with that arm of his."

"You would know of this, I suppose," Zhar answered.

"Of course," the Shipmaster replied. "Having to care for my siblings after my mother passed and then losing a sister and a brother is hard. I couldn't follow that path you're treading so close to though because my other little sister still needed me. As you know, M'ika became a priestess, but she knows how to wield a weapon at least."

Zhar sipped his drink and then took a deep breath. "M'ika was the one that looked after Lira while I was at class, was she not?"

Voro nodded. "She thought you did the right thing fighting for Lira as well." He paused a moment before continuing. "You said she was bright, yes?"

"Quite bright; why?"

"How is she in terms of technology?"

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><p>Leave a review for me, plz. Every one of them helps! :D<p>

I promise to make the next chapter longer. I should be about through the rough patch I'm in. :)


	13. Chapter 13

I know I promised a longer chapter, but I've hit another patch mixed between Minecraft, Writer's Block, job hunting, and needed to replace the power brick for my 4 and 1/2 old Xbox 360. It's been a tough month lol.

MS-16 Z Jager : One quick thing, not that I mind the pace, but for how much longer do you plan to train Kira? ::: The pace is the way it is because I wanted to kind of mirror the amount of info given to us through the books of the Spartans' childhoods and show at least somewhat of what life would be like growing up with the Sangheili. A chapter or two more and she should be ready to go to battle at the age of 16. ;)

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><p>Chapter 13:<p>

Sarah sat on her bed toying with her data pad. She listened to the two Sangheili downstairs talking about her, and wondered what was going to happen. She was curious as to why a Shipmaster she barely knew, and was sure didn't know her, was asking about her. She froze when she heard Voro ask about her skill in technology.

She heard no response from Zhar, and stared down at her pad where her engine files were stored. She realized she'd never told him about the files and never had an opportunity to practice her skill outside the pad because she was afraid it would count as the unforgivable vandalism of Forerunner technology. She took a deep breath, put the pad in her pocket, and walked downstairs to the kitchen area.

"Well then maybe she should stick with-," Voro stopped short when he heard the girl at the bottom of the stairs. He turned his head to see her appear in the doorway with a slightly curious, but also a worried or cautious face. He couldn't tell which exactly. "Hello Kira," he said.

"Hello," she answered. "You were asking about me, weren't you?"

Voro seemed a bit surprised at how direct she was. "Straight to the point I see. You like gathering information first and socializing later, do you?"

She nodded and he replied, "It's always good to ask questions, but make sure you ask the right ones."

"Well," she started, "You wanted to know how I was in working with technology, right?" She pulled out the data pad after she saw him nod and pulled up the files on Slipspace engines. She put the pad on the table to let both of the adults see.

Zhar and Voro both went wide-eyed. They didn't have the slightest clue what each individual part was, but they knew what they were looking at. Zhar picked out the original engine design and compared it with the others. Many resembled it in some way, but a few were completely unique, and smaller.

Voro blinked once, twice, three times before turning back to the nine-year-old. "Were your parents engineers? Or were you training to be one?"

Sarah looked at the ground shaking her head. "I didn't know my parents. I was on my own for as long as I can remember until someone took me in, but he died in a fight at his shop. The UNSC got me a few weeks later."

Voro felt something he never thought he would feel for a human. A pang of sympathy crossed his hearts. Most Sangheili didn't know who their fathers were, and likewise, most males often didn't know their children if they were a Zealot or Swordsman, but almost every Sangheili knew their mother or at least their uncles. This girl in front of him had known no one as a real family member. He could now see why she viewed Zhar as a father and Zhar treated her like his own, especially since he had just lost Lira.

"Well," Voro continued, "You seem to have as good of a hand as a mechanic as you do in combat from what I see. Perhaps you would like to see some parts on my ship and learn about them?"

He laughed when he saw her light up completely at the chance to learn. "Good. Then maybe we can learn something from each other. That is, if Zhar agrees with this."

Zhar looked up at the two of them, still recovering from his bewilderment. "I don't see why not. Never pass up a chance to learn something that will help in the long run, right?" He smiled and thought for a moment Sarah would explode from excitement, but saw she quickly put an iron grip over it and calmed down to just a smile.

"When can we go," she asked.

"I'm free for a visit at the end of this week. You two could come on board then. How does that work out for you, Zhar?"

"That sounds alright," he answered. "That's one of her learning days anyway."

Voro gave a chuckle. "Okay then. I'll see you two in a few days. Thank you for the drink and the talk." He clasped his right forearm with Zhar's and left the house for the night.

Sarah looked up at Zhar confused again. "Isn't he a Shipmaster though?"

"Yes, what of it, Kira?"

"Aren't you supposed to bow to each other?"

Zhar smiled. "Not when meeting by informal means." His expression changed to a puzzled look again. "What else is on this pad?"

Sarah sat in the chair next to his and showed him everything she had noted in the pad. All of her journal entries over the past three and a half years; including the short time between swiping the device when she arrived at the UNSC base and the time Zhar found her. She also showed him the lists of the humans she knew and the Sangheili she had met or seen. Zhar even spotted the notes on how each Sangheili behaved, what they ate, how they dressed, how they spent their time, and a few observations about the planet itself was buried in another file.

Zhar was beyond words when she opened each file. She had collected so much information, and she was still too young for Zhar to think she cared about such details. He thought for a moment that maybe she had been trained to spy on them, but quickly dismissed it when he remembered humans were heretics perhaps, but not monsters. They wouldn't risk their children that young in such a way, and neither would any Sangheili.

He browsed over the list of humans and his eyes found the abbreviation for Sergeant. "This was your trainer," he asked.

"Mhmm. That's Sergeant McTavish. He made us work hard, but he was actually kind of nice. A lot of the other Sergeants are mean though."

"And these others with no last names; who are they?"

She looked at the list again. "Oh, those guys? They were my friends. Kate, Wolf, and Sally were in my group. Jake, Jenna and Martin were another team, and Tom, Nina, and Kelly were a team-." Zhar listened to her recite who she knew best, who was in what team, who had the worst and best attitude, and who she trusted most.

"Tom helped me get used to everyone else when I first got to the base. I would always just hide in the bushes near the fence when we had free time and he would come and talk to me."

"Sounds like what I would do when Finn and I were young. He was always a jumpy one." He thought a moment before asking, "You miss them very much, don't you?"

"I miss being able to talk with them," she said slowly. "But I'm happy here. I've learned so much from you and Ytol that I would never have learned in the UNSC. That and I have new friends here. I wouldn't have traded my time here for anything in the world."

Zhar smiled. "Nor would I have, Kira." He shut the pad off and returned it to her before tucking her into bed for the night, and walking back to his own room.

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><p>I REALLY need some reviews guys. No reviews means no improvement, and if I don't improve, then the story will die off because apparently no one wants to read it. :(<p>

Please leave some reviews. Please? For the cookies? (::)


	14. Chapter 14

Wow, I can't believe the lectures I got from the comment on the last chapter. Okay, okay, I'll keep writing. :P

I apologize for not updating sooner, life gets hectic. I may be reduced to monthly updates, but I promise to not stop. I'm smoothing out and refining the plot line as best as I can, and I really appreciate your eagle eyes when I miss something. :3

In all seriousness, I thank you all for for having the patience to read my story, and bearing with me and my errors. It means a lot to me that you guys read it at all, but to go that far when I say I might stop is.. beyond words. Thank you. :)

I also double-checked the years and I found this. In the year 2517 is when the Spartan IIs were kidnapped and started training. They didn't get augmented and put into real service until 2525. The story was supposed to have followed this line.

_But Shadow, Truth seems to already be launching the Rubble events. How does that work?_

Well, the Rubble events weren't until 2535, so Truth gets to sit on that idea and plan it out for a while I guess lol.

The Great Schism will happen, just not yet.

The unknown aliens from before (they are NOT really fairies) will come back, but not until book two, I've decided. I truely messed up there and I need to work that out.

The plot will eventually get further away from Halo and end on its own note starting in book two and ending in book three.

That's a rough outline, but I may decide to shrink it to just two books.

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><p>Chapter 14:<p>

Tom adjusted himself again. He wasn't quite used to the armor even though he'd had it for nearly a month, and had combat practice. Rebels weren't so hard to deal with, but they were a crafty lot most of the time. Nina walked into the room and tossed her helmet against the wall. Tom watched it fall onto her bunk, but it hadn't touched the sheets before Nina was in the shower room.

"You aren't going to do any good in there. You should really go see a medic," Tom called after her. He was answered with a grunt. A rebel had managed to graze her arm with a bullet in the firefight, and the bleeding hadn't stopped by the time they'd gotten back to base.

Kelly lay down in her bunk as lightly and quietly as she always had, and seemed to fall asleep immediately. Jake sat in his bunk and took out a deck of cards with a grin on his face. "Want to play some Poker, Tom?"

Tom shook his head. "You always win, you little sneak."

Jake gave him a faked expression of shock. "Sneak? I am not! I just have all the luck," he chuckled, shaking his head. He put his helmet to the side and dealt himself a Solitaire round, unfazed by the mission that just ended. How Jake managed to hold on to his joker side, Tom could not even begin to guess. He himself had shed his softer side, replaced with a more neutral person. Kelly rarely ever spoke, so he couldn't tell if she had changed at all.

Nina walked back into the room with a damp tissue pressed against her right arm and was grumbling profanity just barely audible to Tom. Nope, nothing new there, he observed. The only things he could see that changed was his personality and the fact Sarah had been taken from them. He frowned slightly at the reminder, and remembered they were the best of friends when they were little. A twinge of anger crossed his mind and promised that one way or another, he'd find out what happened to her and avenge her if necessary. She'd only been six years old. It wasn't fair for anyone's life to be cut that short, war or not.

He gasped slightly and shook the thoughts away. That kind of thinking got people killed. He couldn't afford revenge, no matter what it was for. For her sake, for his team's sake, for the sake of the human race, he had to remain neutral and just do as he was told. Revenge would come when the war ended, or when humanity was on its last leg.

He looked up and saw Kelly was staring at him with the slightest look of question on her face. He waved her on, and she went back to her nap. He looked over at Nina and saw the blood-soaked tissue still pressed against the hole in her suit. "I'm not asking anymore Nina, go see a medic. That's an order."

Nina growled lightly and walked out of the room finally. Tom sighed and lay down to stare up at the ceiling. He let his mind drift out, wondering how life would be if this war had never happened; if he had stayed with his parents on their chicken farm. Strange, he thought, that a farm boy had grown into a super soldier that risked his life near-daily for his race.

He drifted off about an hour later and was rudely awoken by metal grinding on metal as Nina walked to her bunk with her suit being dragged on the floor. He gave a tiny satisfied grin when he saw the bandage around her arm and went back to his nap.

04:25, not even dawn yet, the alarm went off. Tom was up in an instant and slipped into his armor as fast as it would let him. He looked up and saw the rest of his squad was ready to go when he was. They bolted out of the room to McTavish's office.

"They're on the move again," he started. "A group of rebels has been spotted heading to one of the outer colonies. Apparently there's a major base of theirs they make weekly trips to in order to resupply it. You already know what to do; get in, get the information, get out, and clean up. Understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir," they all answered at once.

"Good. Your transport leaves in three minutes. Dismissed."

The squad was at the transport in under a minute and strapped themselves in for the ride. The trip was about an hour long, long enough to study the base layout and several plans of execution. The pilot would activate a radar jammer and drop them off at the loading dock. From there, the Spartans would make their way through the service ducts to the central computer room and hack their way in after disposing of any targets. After that, they would have to rig the place with bombs and hope they had enough time to get out.

The pilot activated the jammer and dropped them off as planned, and he slipped out of range just as the jammer failed. The base's sensors seemed occupied enough with chasing whatever caused the jam as the Spartans moved from one shadow to the next in the docking bay.

Nina peered over a pile of crates at the twenty some-odd people in the room. None of them had any clue they were there and she signaled that to the others. Tom nodded and moved over to a duct grate to begin working on it. Ten seconds later he saw an amber light twinkle from Nina. He looked over and saw two of the workers heading in their direction. The squad immediately moved back to the shadows, blending in as best as their sage colored armor would let them. The workers continued talking about the girls they saw at some party last week as they rolled a couple of barrels toward the door.

Tom moved back to the panel and had it open in thirty seconds. Each Spartan moved quickly into the duct with Tom following last to seal the entrance. They crawled along in silence with Kelly in the lead. She finally gave the all-stop and looked down into the room. There was one guy asleep at his desk, another bouncing a rubber ball against the wall, a third drinking coffee while watching the security cameras, and a fourth taking care of some computer documents.

She indicated their positions before beginning work on the panel. The second screw was unscrewed too far and dropped to the floor. "Huh?" She shrunk away as the coffee man picked up the screw and looked up. "Hmph, lousy technicians can't even be bothered to screw things on right." He grumbled and left the room with the screw in hand.

Kelly sighed and made short work of the other two screws. Nina dropped down first and snapped the neck of the guy bouncing the ball first. Jake dropped down and did the same with the computer worker before beginning his search for information.

Jenna went to seal the door, and Tom finished the napping man before Kelly replaced the panel. "Alright, looks like they've been designing some sort of super weapon," Jake said. "Maybe some sort of upgraded MAC gun, but I'm not too sure."

"Download it anyway," Tom answered. An amber light from Jenna appeared and he heard the security guard returning. "Hurry up, Jake. Jenna, Nina, barricade the door, quickly." He lifted a file cabinet just enough for it to not make noise, and set it in front of the door knob. Jenna and Nina did the same with a small sofa that was next to the door, and drew the blinds over the window.

A green light from Jake glittered as the door knob started turning. Tom nodded and placed his bomb in the center of the room.

"Martin, open this door _now_!"

The group was back in the vent a moment later. Tom took the route back to the docking bay while the others went off to place their charges, and melted back into the shadows. Five minutes later, the Spartans moved into the shadows next to him. The panel fell behind Nina, and the sound echoed throughout the room. Twenty pairs of eyes fell on Nina, and all was dead quiet, then the firefight started.

The first man went down from her pistol, then a second and third before she took cover behind a wall. Jake lifted his own pistol and fired off five rounds before taking cover again. Jenna, Kelly, and Tom opened fire and were assisted by the other two a moment later.

"We need to move," Jake spoke over their communications link. "Those things we planted are going to go off in about two minutes."

"And where are we going to go," Nina asked. "There's no way that pilot can get to us now."

"Space walk, perhaps," Kelly answered.

"If you think I'm hopping out into that, you're out of your-" Nina couldn't finish her sentence. A bullet went through her visor, and she dropped to the floor, releasing her pistol. Jenna dragged her behind the crates, and began inspecting the wound. Tom stopped her from removing the helmet. He broke open one of the crates and grabbed a container of medical foam, then smeared some of it over her visor. It wouldn't last very long, but it would hopefully last long enough to get to safety.

He slung her over his shoulder and made a run for the semi-solid shield at the end of the room followed by his squad. Thirty seconds left on the clock as he pushed off with as much force as he could muster. Twenty seconds, and the transport came for them. Five seconds, and they were clear of the blast zone.

Kelly looked Nina over. The seal had held, and she hit the release on the helmet. A bullet fell out and clinked on the floor next to her and rolled under a seat. It had scored Nina pretty good across the temple on her right, but she was still breathing.

Tom realized he had been holding his breath and let it go. How many times, he wondered, would they have to go through this? How many injuries and close calls before they lose someone else? How long before their luck runs out?

He radioed a medic to be there when they got back to their base so Nina could get the attention she needed, and made sure none of the others were injured. He took his turn and chucked his helmet at the wall in anger. A loud clang sounded, but a soft thud did not follow. He looked at the wall. "Great…" The helmet was half embedded in the metal.

A month or so later, his suit didn't bug him anymore, and Nina had somewhat learned from her mistakes, although she was still very easy to upset. The Shadow Spartans had been left alone since the incident with Nina, and they were a little tired of the same boring routine.

Jake walked down the hall and knocked on McTavish's door. A moment later, the door opened and Jake spoke. "Sir, might I ask why business has been slow lately?"

The sergeant took a moment to think about what he was talking about before answering, "We think the rebels have fled the system, and we're tracking them to the best of our ability."

"What about the Covenant?"

"What?"

"Why are we fighting freaking rebels when we should be out fighting the real threat; the threat that's taking away hundreds of soldiers every day?"

"Orders," McTavish said firmly. "There is nothing I can do about it, Jake. Until I'm told otherwise, we fight rebels. I understand you don't like it, and frankly, I don't either. We simply don't get a choice, and the sooner you accept that, the better. Now please, back to your group."

Jake's expression loosened when he heard the sergeant's voice wear thin at the end. He felt a little guilty for taking out some of his anger on him and not realizing the toll it must be taking on him as well. Military work was tough, but working with Spartans was tougher with all the pressure of keeping them in the best condition possible, and alive. No wonder McTavish looked like he'd seen a ghost every time they reported even a small injury. "My apologies, sir," he whispered as he went back to the other Spartans.

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><p>Please leave a review andor comment on my plans up top. Input is welcome, I won't mind trying to fix or explain part of what's going on as long as it doesn't spoil anything, so please feel free to ask and point stuff out. :)

Oh, special B-day update as well. I stayed up 'till the time I was born to write this chapter. 33 seconds after midnight on July 1st. ;)

Happy 18th B-day to me! :D

Now I'm going to bed. x3

Have a cookie. :3

(::)

Zzzz...


	15. Update!

PaWn: ( He apparently doesn't have an account? :s ) "Foundry Cove; Get your fucking gaming facts right before being a bloody IDIOT because they had it YEARS ago. Play Halo: Wars for proof"

I believe Foundry Cove got that fact from Halo: The Fall of Reach (the book), which I did double-check and found that the Spartans did not get shields until 2552; the time of the first game.

Seeing as how Halo Wars was mostly Microsoft's doing (and being RTS), I'm ignoring its game mechanics, but I will not disregard the Harvest story line if/when I may reference it.

That aside, I do apologize for missing the August update. College has been my top priority lately, and I haven't had much time to write MaoF. Depending on my homework load, I may be able to get in some writing on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the hours I have before my only class those days, like today.

I opened it up this morning again and got a few paragraphs in, but not enough for the next chapter. It will be soon though, just maybe not this month.

Even though this isn't part of the story, I can still use some reviews. Read my story over again and see if I messed up any other facts, maybe mention the story to some of your friends. Every bit helps! :D

So, yea, sorry for not putting up chapter 15 yet, I'm working on it when I can.

Have a cookie while I run to class. :3

(::)


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 YAAAAY! :D

I apologize again for making you wait more than a month for the next update, but I have finally found some time to write, and write I did.

I also want to thank you for not dragging me to a sacrificial pit of doom for not updating last month.

*glances at Zim* ... Do you want me to sing the Doom Song?

Zim: *runs*

I thought not. *pets Gir*

That randomness aside, enjoy chapter 15 and don't murder me! ^_^

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><p>Zhar was awoken by the sound of someone creeping into his room. He opened one eye and saw the silhouette of a small figure, crouched, and trying to stick to the darkest parts of the room. He grinned slightly and shut his eye again. The footsteps crept closer and stopped every few steps as if the owner couldn't decide where to go. They finally chose to go to the side Zhar was facing, and stepped lighter than before. He listened closely, waiting for the right moment.<p>

The footsteps stopped right in front of him and heard a breath being drawn. At that he jerked up, giving a light roar as the child shrieked and fell back. He chuckled as the girl tried to catch her breath and started giggling with him.

He glanced out the window and saw it was not quite dawn yet. "Up a bit early, are we?"

Kira nodded and answered, "I was too excited to go back to sleep. I woke up about an hour ago and finished another journal page, but then I got bored, so I came in to wake you up." She grinned up at him and he chuckled again.

"You'll have to be a little sneakier than that," he answered as he helped her up. "You haven't eaten yet, I assume?"

"No, not yet; I'm too excited to be hungry. I can't wait to see Shipmaster Voro's ship." The child looked as if she could hardly control herself.

"Well, you won't be very happy if your stomach growls while you're there. Come on, let's get something to eat." Zhar got up as she bolted off to the kitchen and smoothed out his sleeping robe. By the time he got there, she was already eating a Sunset fruit and had the juice all over her mouth. He shook his head, smiling, and gave her a napkin.

An hour later, they met Voro outside the southern gate and boarded a Phantom which took them directly to his ship. "Now listen carefully," Voro said. "Most of the people on my vessel are not from our town, and probably have not heard of you, Kira. You should be prepared for… mixed reactions."

Kira nodded and answered, "I'll be ready."

Voro gave a quiet "hmm" and stepped through the airlock onto his Assault Carrier when they docked. Sure enough, a group of Unggoy turned as Kira and Zhar stepped on board, and promptly ran away screaming. Kira looked after them wondering why they were running away when they were bigger than she was. She shrugged it off and followed Zhar and Voro down several hallways and lifts to engineering.

On the way, they passed several more Unggoy, some Sangheili that nearly took out their weapons at the sight of her, and one or two Jiralhanae that gave evil grins as she walked by. Any thoughts of wandering off were definitely gone by now, and she stepped up her pace to match Zhar's.

The metal door parted and allowed the three to enter engineering. The first thing Kira noticed was there were several floating squid things going around to certain panels and doing maintenance at an incredible pace.

"The Huragok are at it again," she heard Voro ask.

A young Sangheili, whom she remembered as Skor from the town, answered Voro with a sigh. "Unfortunately, yes. I don't know what it is with them, Shipmaster. They always seem to think something is wrong with the system, and yet find nothing."

"Hmm," Voro was not pleased, but was not angry either. "Well, there is little that can be done about it. The only way we'll get them to stop is if we let them run their course as always. You may see to your duties, that is, if they'll let you."

Skor bowed in the usual manner and managed to shoo away one of the Huragok attempting to open up his computer console. By this point, Kira had forgotten all about the Jiralhanae earlier and was looking at the consoles being worked on by these strange creatures. Many cables were stashed under the metal, and flashed back and forth as the alien worked to disconnect, inspect and reconnect each one.

She moved closer, within arm's reach, of the console and its engineer, but was careful to not disturb it. She watched as the strange creature unplugged, separated, and plugged back in each cable carefully, making sure they were all in their proper place. She was confused to see that in the end, nothing in the console had been changed. The Huragok closed the panel quickly and moved onto the next.

"You won't learn much from him, Kira," Zhar said. "Even if he could speak, he is always far too busy."

Kira walked back to the Shipmaster and waited for instructions.

"Skor," Voro continued, "when you have finished what you can here, I would appreciate it if you would show Kira how some of the basic systems work."

Skor scoffed at the getting anything done part, but of course agreed to watch after Kira. Voro and Zhar both left engineering, leaving the two with the Huragok. Kira sat in a chair well out of the way and waited for Skor to finish his work.

After a few minutes, the blue armored male looked up, wondering why the room was so quiet besides the Huragoks. He turned to see Kira sitting quietly with her hands folded. She wasn't even randomly fidgeting like some other children he knew would. He looked back at his computer and continued entering codes. "Are you always this quiet?"

Kira looked up and answered, "Most of the time I am." She looked away again after answering his question.

Skor was again caught off guard when she didn't start talking about pointless topics. "I see; taught to only speak when spoken to." He heard tapping on a data pad and turned his attention to her in an instant, but caught his tongue when he saw the pad was not his. "What is that?"

Kira took a moment to finish hitting a series of buttons before answering, "It's my data pad. I've had it since before I got to Sangheilios. I use it to study mechanics."

Intrigued, Skor walked over and took a look at the pad while she worked. In the files list on the right, he could see thumbnails of many types of what seemed to be Slipspace drives, though none were of Covenant origin. "You created these yourself, and of your own accord," he asked. The small human saved her work and nodded, grinning with a little pride.

"Well," he continued, "Have you ever seen a Covenant Slipspace drive?" When she shook her head, he moved over to one of the other doors and beckoned her to follow. Staying close, she followed him into a larger room housing the plasma core which powered the whole of the ship. Nearby were the engines, and the drive itself. As expected, it was covered in shiny purple metal with deep blue Covenant markings on the side.

The room was eerily quiet with only the sound being the pulsing plasma and Skor opening a panel on it. Kira looked inside to see many circuits and a few cables. It was much more sophisticated, and slimmer compared to the UNSC drives. "How fast can it go before it overheats?"

Skor tilted his head, slightly confused. "This thing overheat? Don't be ridiculous," he grinned. "To answer your question, this drive is estimated to reach 912 light-years in a day at maximum power." Kira quickly noticed the huge difference between that and what the UNSC drives could accomplish. The Covenant version was indeed _much_ more sophisticated.

They spent the next hour together studying the amazing device and comparing it to the UNSC version. Throughout their discussion, Skor saw that she was well-learned in this field for a child her age, especially a human child. He wasn't exactly fond of children, but he knew his young neighbor a little better now, and was glad she wasn't loud, obnoxious and unruly as most of his clan mates were when they were growing up. Of course by now most of those Sangheili were either dead or serving on other ships if not on the front lines.

His eyes then found a few files with the drive in more compact versions and asked, "What are these for?"

Kira glanced at the files. "They were mostly just to give me something to do. I had an idea one time about using smaller drives on other things like power packs or even the…," she knew the human word for the vehicle they rightfully named the Banshee, but couldn't remember the original name. "…the flying vehicle that can shoot plasma bolts and bombs."

"You do realize the risks in that, right," Skor asked. She gave a look that showed she somewhat understood, but not the full extent. "A smaller Slipspace drive would have fewer components to keep it stable. Activating it at all can result in one of three theorized ways. One, it could work perfectly fine, but would require a lot of maintenance time to make sure it works correctly. Two, it could destabilize or glitch out and transport you somewhere in the middle of deep space where no one would ever find you. And three, it could possibly rupture during a jump and completely rip you apart limb from limb."

The girl sat there and blinked for a moment, no doubt imagining the scene. She then looked up at him with another look on her face. One Skor had come to call the Question Look. "Can't this one also destabilize? I mean, I know it's much less likely to, but can't it?"

"Between the many stabilizers, the backup drive, emergency procedures, the Huragok team and I, destabilization is almost impossible as long as it doesn't take a direct hit from an enemy ship," he answered. "Now, you seem to know what you're doing, but can you put it to real practice?"

"I've never had the chance to," Kira said with a hint of sadness.

"Then today is your lucky day," Skor said as he walked around to the backup drive. He removed the panel and unplugged a few wires, knowing the drive was offline at the moment anyway. When Kira walked over, he said, "We'll start with something simple. Plug them back in correctly."

The young girl took a moment to look at which wires were unplugged and where the empty sockets were. It only took a few seconds and a matter of reaching far enough to plug the wires back in. After checking to be sure the wires were all the way plugged in, Skor turned to her and said, "Very good, and on the first try as well. Now let's try-."

Skor was cutoff when he heard the door in the other room hiss open. Kira quickly pocketed her data pad and turned her attention to the door that led into the core room. The door hissed open to reveal one of the earlier Jiralhanae, supposedly a chieftain, and two of his followers. "Dasacus," Skor started, "What could you possibly want?"

The chieftain gave a chuckle. "What do you think?" He took out his Gravity Hammer and stated, "Stand aside and I may consider allowing you to continue walking the Path with us."

Skor instead stepped in front of Kira. "You would dare go against the Shipmaster, as well as a Prophet's order?"

"My brothers _died_ looking for that waste of a life form," the chieftain exclaimed, noticing the small child wince.

"Really," Skor wasn't buying it. "You claim you brothers were seeking her out as they tore out my neighbors' throats and burned their homes before my very eyes? As far as I can see, you're just trying to make excuses to attack Sangheili." The chieftain gripped is hammer tighter and growled. Skor wasn't going to have it and placed a hand on his own Plasma Rifle. "Back down now, or face the consequences."

The chieftain roared his battle cry and swung the massive weapon at Skor's face. Skor ducked out of the way, brought up his rifle, and fired on the brute. The chieftain's right arm was burned in an instant and was left holding his hammer with his left hand. The other two brutes went after Kira, who was looking around for any weapon she could use.

Skor leapt onto the nearest one, knocking him down, while shooting the other in the legs. The other brute fell, momentarily saving the girl, but the one Skor neglected to pin down smacked him with enough force to leave Skor dazed and barely registered his rifle sliding away from him.

All three brutes were shaking off his attack and surrounding the young male. The chieftain got a new grip on his hammer and went in for another swing, only to get his faced practically burned off. Skor followed the plasma fire back to a blurry figure hiding behind the core and holding his gun.

He dropped to the ground and plasma flew over his head to get the brute behind him in the chest. The third brute charged at the girl as Skor's vision cleared and realized the weapon had overheated and was venting. Skor sprinted up behind the brute and got him in a headlock just a few feet from where Kira was hidden. She wasted no time getting out of their way.

The brute was trying desperately to pull Skor's arms away from his neck and shake him off, but the warrior's hold only got tighter. The overgrown ape sank to his knees, and then to the ground a moment later as the Sangheili released him.

Skor looked around and clicked his mandibles to be sure he didn't have a broken jaw, but he could taste his own blood and felt it dripping off of the two mandibles the younger brute struck. He saw the door to the console room hiss shut, and followed to find the girl beside one of the consoles. Relieved it was him, she handed back the rifle.

"We work pretty well as a team, don't you think," he asked. Kira attempted to smile with him, but it was feeble at best. The Sangheili ruffled her hair a bit, showing that she was in good standing with him as friends, and then contacted his Shipmaster about the incident.

A few minutes later, a security team along with Zhar and Voro walked into engineering. The team went into the core room and dragged out the incapacitated Jiralhanae to sickbay. Zhar went over to Kira as Voro turned to Skor who was tending to his bleeding lip. "What exactly happened?"

Skor exercised his jaw once more before replying, "Dasacus barged in while we were talking and demanded I hand her over. I refused and he proceeded to attack. Had Kira not gotten a hold of my rifle, I probably would have died at their hands." Voro nodded and was about to turn away when Skor continued. "There is also something else worth mentioning, Shipmaster." He looked over at Kira before leaning toward Voro and whispering so the child couldn't hear, "Dasacus claimed that the attack on Asum was to find Kira and end her. Is that true?"

Voro blinked. "I… do not know. That would be news to me. Even though the Jiralhanae hate us, they still would not risk angering a Prophet over it no matter the reason. They aren't nearly that stupid." Skor nodded, satisfied with the answer and went back to his computer. Voro walked over to where Zhar was kneeling by the girl and asked, "Is she alright?"

"I'm okay," Kira answered before looking at the ground. "It's my fault Skor was hurt though." Hearing his name, the young engineer looked over at Kira as she said, "If I hadn't been here, they wouldn't have attacked him."

"It was through no fault of yours they attacked," Skor said, turning away from his console. "The Prophet of Virtue said that you were to be trained as we were, and that none were to interfere with it. Since the Prophet of Truth has not contradicted that order since he retook his command, Dasacus had no right to attack as he did. For that, he has already paid a good price."

The nine year old then noticed the dark purple blood dripping off of his lip and that it was beginning to dry. "You're bleeding though," she replied as her shoulders slumped.

"That was through my own stupidity, not through a fault of yours." Skor wiped away the blood and continued, "I should have known better that so little fire power would stun a Jiralhanae for long." He sighed when Kira still seemed upset. _Why must it be so difficult to make children understand?_ He came down to her level. "Look at me. Please?"

She blinked back a tear as she looked up to listen to Skor. "None of my injuries were in any way your fault. In fact, if you hadn't done what you did, I would be far worse off if not dead. Do you understand?" When he saw her nod, he said, "You cannot blame yourself for something you could have done nothing about. Promise me you won't blame yourself over this."

"I promise," she answered.

"Good." Skor stood and lightly ruffled her head again before going back to his post.

"I should probably take Kira home," Zhar said to Voro. "We appreciate the invitation, even if the day didn't exactly go as expected."

Voro shook his head. "I should have seen this coming, and I apologize for being blind. I am glad we did not lose anyone in this." They bowed to each other in the usual manner, and Zhar walked with Kira back to the airlock.

Voro turned to Skor. "For one who doesn't like children, you seem to get along well with them."

"She's alright for a child I suppose. Far too sensitive for her own good though."

Voro gave a light "hmm" and went back to the bridge.

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><p>Please leave a review! :D<p>

Every bit helps, of course, and I will be writing chapter 16 soon.

Hopefully I won't miss the October update.

Maybe I'll do a separate bonus skit for that... Possibly workable...

No promises! :x

Now, enjoy this cookie while I catch the bus home from college. :3

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	17. Halloween

This is **NOT **part of the actual story. It's only a short in honor of Halloween. :3

Yes early I know, but I don't care. :D

Enjoy! :P

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><p>The air was crisp and cold, just like she liked it. The breeze brushed over her and she shivered, remembering just how cold it really was as she pulled her jacket around her. The teen looked over to the person she considered her father and grinned at his confused face as they walked down the darkened street.<p>

"So this holiday," he started, "Its purpose is what exactly?"

"There are plenty of stories about how it started. The one I heard first was that centuries ago, people believed the dead would return on Halloween night and kill the living for whatever reason. So to keep them at bay, they'd leave treats so the dead would take that instead of them. The costumes were to fool them into thinking the wearer wasn't actually human."

He gave her a strange look and she said, "Yeah, weird I know."

"Shipmaster Zhar," a young Sangheili excitedly ran up to them.

"Skor? Is something wrong," her father asked.

"No, not at all, but the Spartans are getting a game set up for us to join. Something called _paintball_. Do you wish to join?"

The teen gave a wide grin and looked up at the Shipmaster.

Zhar smiled and said to Skor, "It would seem that Kira has decided for us both."

They followed the engineer over to the group of Sangheili and Spartans gathering by an old barnyard and noticed no one had armor on, and about half of each group was being covered with sickly green-brown paint and clothes.

One of the Spartans jogged over to them. "So there you two are. Where've you been?"

"Just enjoying a walk, Tom," Kira answered. "What's with the makeover," she asked, indicating the group getting the paint job.

"Well, it _is_ Halloween, and someone had the bright idea to have normal people vs. Flood. Personally I think it's a little too soon, but it's all in good fun." He shrugged.

They followed Tom back to the group and were each equipped with a paintball gun, and plenty of ammo. Once the 'Flood' was finished and equipped, they were sent throughout the lot to hide and gain the upper hand on the normal team. After about five minutes, the other team moved in, carefully looking around.

Zhar brought up his paint gun and popped a human Flood form in the chest where the red fuzzy things would be. The person sprawled on the ground, pretending to have died, though it was clear he was mumbling something.

Three more shots rang in the air and one of the younger Sangheili fell to the ground, partially surprised at how much the paint stung when it hit skin. One of his shipmates quickly took out the one who shot him.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kira saw a shadow move and brought up her gun, but she was a bit too slow. Kelly emerged from her hiding spot and got Jenna and another Sangheili in a matter of seconds before hiding her painted face again.

"Oh crap. Kelly is on their team? We're screwed," Jake said. A paintball found its way from Kira's gun to his foot and Jake glared a response.

"Get over it and be a good sport," she laughed.

The game continued on for about two hours, and both teams dwindled in number. Zhar, Kira and Tom were the last three uninfected standing and were keeping a tight group as they made their way through the barn. Tom brought his gun up when he heard a cough and quietly made his way over to a pile of straw near a corner of the barn and looked to see who it was.

The smile quickly faded when he saw the blood. It was _everywhere_ and it stunk. The blood was trickling from one of the marines that had been taken down earlier, where the throat was torn out. A growl turned his attention to the attacker. The pale and torn gray skin was all he had to see before realizing what had happened.

The creature lunged at him and Tom smacked it away with his paintball gun. His sheer strength and a metal wall made it clear this thing was no longer human when it stood up unfazed.

"Tom?" Kira gave a worried face as she saw her best friend run from the person.

"_Run!_"

Several more paled people, including Sangheili could be heard outside, and all three bolted down the street toward the town.

"What has happened to my crew," Zhar asked.

"No clue," Tom answered. "Whatever they are now, they're not friendly."

Kira turned around to see the mob of Sangheili and humans slouching after them, most of which had a bunch of bloody holes and scratches all over them. "My money's on zombies."

"Zombies," the word was a bit difficult for Zhar to form with his mandibles.

"People that have been killed and taken over by some kind of virus and drives them to eat human flesh," Tom answered, "But there's no such thing!"

"Apparently there is-," Kira said as they stopped short to see part of the town on fire and many people panicking, along with some others being surrounded and bitten by zombies. Tom led them around the edge of the town to where the Phantom was supposed to be, only to find it infested with the dead.

"You got a plan B, Tom," she asked.

"There should be a Warthog around here somewhere…"

As if on cue, two Warthogs pulled up driven by Kelly and Skor, and the Spartan looked over and asked, "Someone call for a ride?"

Tom and Zhar piled into Kelly's 'hog and Kira hopped into Skor's.

Both cars took off down the road, past the barn where they saw their teammates had all succumbed to the virus or had been devoured.

"So much for our first Halloween," Kira mumbled. She rested her face against her palms to try and stop from crying from losing her friends yet again. She heard Skor roar in surprised and the car swerved and jerked, effectively throwing Kira from the side seat and into the ditch. She pulled herself up to see Skor and the warthog were crushed under an oil tanker and Tom and Zhar were pulling themselves up further up the road. She got to her feet, but yelped in pain and looked to see her right leg was broken.

"Tom! Help," she screamed half from fear and half from the pain clouding her vision. What seemed to be a few seconds later, Tom was at her side and wrapping the leg firmly with strips of cloth before picking her up. Zhar joined them a moment later and took her from him. They ran down the road with Kelly, past the wreckage and into open countryside.

Kira woke up several hours later in a medical bed with a proper cast on her leg. She recognized the shiny metal walls almost immediately and called out for a medic, satisfied to see a Sangheili medic approach her a moment later.

"Is something wrong," he asked.

"Where are Zhar and Tom?"

"We're right here," Zhar walked in with Tom and Kelly behind him and signaled to the medic he could go back to his work. "It seems we were quite lucky to be alive," his voice was a bit thicker than usual.

"How bad was it? Did they figure out what caused it?"

"There's no 'they' anymore," Tom said. "Apparently this entire colony had been suffering from the outbreak for weeks and no one noticed. If the infected weren't killed by cops, they were killed by glassing beams and MAC guns."

Kira took a moment to let the information sink in. She started crying when she realized she would never see her other teammates again, and hardly felt the comforting hug Tom offered her.

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><p>Review please! :D<p>

Again, this chapter is NOT part of the actual story, but I just felt like writing it for Halloween's sake.

If any of you guys like Mythology, I've got a couple stories in that department too. Go take a look! :D

Now have a cookie while I head over to Botany. :3

(::)


	18. Chapter 16

An update? An update?!

Yes, finally an update. :3

CynicalRabbit: "I saw you had a new chapter up and i was all like YES! then i started to read and cried when it wasn't technically a chapter."

Aw. :( I'm sorry. Well, I hope this update helps a bit.

It's a short chapter, yes, but shtuff gets serious in the next one. lol

Also, I made it so guest reviews have to be screened first because I want to be able to talk to you guys if something is wrong, or unclear. What prompted me to do this was someone using a name clearly not theirs posted on a Jurassic Park fic of mine (which I took down), and it wasn't a clear review and I couldn't contact them. Soo.. yea.. plz don't kill me. lol

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><p>Five more years passed by in a blur for the girl. Kira was still small, but what she lacked in height she made up for with her skills. At just four feet, ten inches, the fourteen year old had gotten strong enough to take T'rok in hand-to-hand combat, despite the fact he was clearly bigger than her. She also had trained herself to balance her breathing with her speed, effectively allowing her to keep up with her Zhar on their morning runs.<p>

Her mentor had tried to get her admitted to the school for swordsmanship, but was declined because 'a human female had no business or the _honor_ of learning the skill of the blade'. Kira had been disappointed that she wasn't even allowed to prove herself, but was worried that Zhar may have decided to challenge them or have her challenge the masters for the right to learn.

Instead, Zhar thought over the answer, nodded, and had taken her home without another word, although Kira knew better than to say anything to him. He was furious with them, she could see. There was no comfort her words could have given him, though he made it clear he was in no way angry with her.

He spent the years teaching her himself, both with wooden blades and eventually its very real and dangerous cousin. It had been on her fourteenth birthday, or what they assumed to be her birthday, that he declared her training had finished. His gift to her was the dark sheath that had caught her attention the first time she had seen real weapons.

On the blades, her name was engraved in tiny Covenant letters, and in larger letters, the blades together read, "Through honor and sacrifice are battles won. Through persistence and truth are warriors made."

Zhar had spent weeks using a narrow beam, similar to a Focus Rifle, to make each mark smooth and perfect. She had earned those blades, and he had no intention to mess them up if he could help it.

Kira was disappointed several days later when T'rok told her that he and the other boys were heading off to the military, seeing as they were old enough to go into real battle. He promised it wasn't goodbye forever, but it would be some time before he would be able to come back home. It was on that same day that Zhar received another message from the Prophets.

_Zhar Asumee, _

_ It has been brought to our attention that you have decided Kira's training has concluded. If this is true, you are instructed to bring her to us at the week's end so that we may see for ourselves what she has learned and what she can do. Failure to do so carries a price you should know already. _

"What do I do," Kira asked, bewildered. "Are they going to make me fight or recite things or-?"

"I do not know," Zhar sighed. "I just know that they will inspect you based on your skills and knowledge. Keep in mind; these are not the same Prophets who decided to allow you to stay. They may or may not be as… understanding as the others were. Just stay calm, and do not speak to them directly unless spoken to. Of course, you already follow that rule. I believe you will do just fine."

He offered a smile to her which immediately spread across her own face. It faded quickly though. "What if I fail though or they just don't like me?"

Her father pulled her into a hug. "Do not think such thoughts. You'll pass, I know you will." Sensing her dissatisfaction, he continued, "But if they decide otherwise, I will do what I can to defend you. I promise you that."

On the day of the test, people she had known for years could have sworn she was starting to go crazy. She couldn't stop fidgeting in her seat, her muscles had tensed up painfully, and she would hold her breath about a minute at a time. She didn't feel as if she were prepared to face whatever awaited her at the end of the Phantom ride. Zhar tapped her shoulder, and was pleased when she relaxed; for the moment anyway.

As they left their ride and followed the maze of corridors and lifts, Kira began tensing up yet again. The adult pulled her gently ahead of himself just so she could keep pace. "You'll be fine, Kira. Just don't lose your head. Slow your breathing, head up, that's it." The guards at the door paid no mind to them as they walked by.

Truth looked up from speaking with Mercy as the doors slid open. "Ah, Zhar. I see you received my message." He eyed the child carefully as they both bowed respectfully, as all Sangheili did. "This is Kira, I presume?"

"This is she," the warrior nodded and took a step back, leaving the girl still bowing in front of the two Prophets.

Mercy put up his most grumpy voice he could muster. "Well, head up child! We can't evaluate you if we can't see you." Seeing the girl instantly snap up and attempt to hide her fear made the old San-Shyuum laugh on the inside. Truth, being well aware of the elder's antics, intervened.

"How long has it been now since you first started your training?"

The girl's eyes relaxed slightly and she switched from her Sangheili speech to what speech she knew of the Prophets'. "It's been a bit over eight years."

"And in that time, what have you been taught? Not specifically, of course, but what topics in general have you covered?"

Kira took a deep breath. "I've learned hand-to-hand combat, how to swim and run fast enough to keep up with my friends, the history and languages of the Covenant, the code of honor and how to use a sword."

"The art of the sword; yes, I observed the sheath on your back," Truth indicated the dark leather. "Would you mind showing your blade?"

Feeling a flicker of pride, she slowly and carefully pulled the handles out, separating the swords and pairing them up to show the words etched in the black metal. Truth and Mercy both glanced at each other before allowing her to put the blades away.

The questioning and skill display continued for hours. Zhar hadn't kept track of time, but even he began to grow tired from standing in one place for so long. Still, this test was just as important to him as it was to her. He perked up as Mercy spoke.

"Well, I think we've heard enough."

"Indeed," Truth said. "I believe she just may be ready to test her abilities." Seeing the confusion leak onto the girl's face, he continued, "This was only the first part of your inspection. The next part will determine if you pass or fail. You are aware of the war between the Covenant and the Humans, yes?"

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><p>Uh-oh... What's Truth planning? :x<p>

Well you'll have to wait and see. :3 (Sorry!)

Reviews plz! :D

Also, haz a cookie. :3

(::)


	19. Poll In Progress Please Read

Hey everyone, just checking in. I know it's been _forever_ since I last added a chapter, and I'm sorry to say that I just haven't had anything come to me. I can't decide how to form ideas or for what first and it's driving me insane.

I really am sorry that I don't have anything real to post up yet, but I am trying to hold on to my flickering thoughts. To help (I hope), I created a poll for you all. I really need your help here if you want these stories to continue to grow and progress. I may or may not decide to dismiss one of them for the sake of the others, but I just am not sure what to do at this point.

Just take a moment of your reading time to follow the link to my page and voice your opinion on the matter. Please? For the sake of the cookies? :C

(::)

Cast your vote at: (www fanfiction net) /u/3860739/


	20. Chapter 17

So, I know it's been _forever_ since I last updated and I'm _very sorry_ it took so long. I wasn't just waiting on the poll, I just didn't feel like turning it off. I was trying to beat up Writer's Block just to get this chapter out for most of that time.

I know it's short compared to other chapters, but what can ya do when old WB's gotcha by the throat? :P

Also, I'd like to clear up something once more, and I'm doing it on this chappy because I don't feel like re-uploading chapters that half of you despised anyway. I'm sure you know which 2 or 3 I mean.

Claire, Luna, Rei and Kristy are **NOT**, I repeat, are **NOT** fairies.

They are alien beings made up of pure energy/aura. They _chose_ to look as 'fairies' temporarily for the sole purpose of looking as non-threatening as possible to a little girl they wanted to talk to. I do realize that what I wrote during that time was beyond sloppy, and I had no intention to make it look like Avatar: TLA (sorry, GoG ToXiC). I will probably re-write it either when I've finished the main plot or when I figure out how to write it more carefully; whichever comes first.

So hopefully I won't have rotten tomatoes flung at me when you guys read this chapter. :P

Enjoy! ... *hides in the ceiling*

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><p>Kira sat in the Phantom in a daze. Board a Human-controlled station and steal its database without being caught? She wasn't scared; definitely not. She was <em>terrified.<em> It had been years since she had last seen a Human, and never had she been on board a space station. She wouldn't know any of its controls or which console to take the information from.

She snapped out of her panicking thoughts as Zhar's voice finally got through to her.

"There is nothing to fear, Kira," he said, speaking low so that none of the other Sangheili could hear. "I am going to show you how it is done, remember?"

The girl nodded her head and reached behind her for the tenth time just to be sure her beloved swords had not vanished into thin air. It was difficult to reach because of her custom-fit armor which had been shaded a swampy green. She glanced up at the Sangheili sitting on her other side; a Major class. His golden reptile-like eyes met hers for a brief moment before he turned away, seemingly indifferent about her nervousness and how she fidgeted.

Kira forced herself to take another breath, realizing that the Major could have chewed her out by now for the way she was behaving. The only reason she could think of that he didn't was because she was with Zhar who held a rank much higher than his. She drew her hand away from the blades and sat them back in her shiny green lap. Not a moment later, the pilot announced that they were nearing the boarding port.

The other members of the squad stood from their seats and did a final check on their weapons and shields. She stood as well, checking to be sure that the Plasma Rifle she'd been given was still strapped to her side, and of course, that her swords remained where she had kept them nearly since the day she had gotten them.

Due to her size, the armor was much thinner and smaller than the standard version, and did not have room for a shield generator. It might have been another part of the test, or maybe she had been very unlucky. Both theories seemed equally likely.

A jolt rippled through the Phantom accompanied with the clang of metal hitting metal. A split second later, the door slid open, and the squad poured into the halls of the station, weapons ready. Zhar pushed her forward and briefly took in the clear gleaming white walls before directing her away from the rest of the squad.

He stopped short as he turned the third corner, roaring in slight surprise at almost running smack into a squad of the enemy. Their ARs rose to aim at his chest and head. He reacted with the only idea he could think of.

Kira yelped as the golden Zealot grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off the ground to his front, placing her head next to the humming of his rifle. She opened her eyes and grabbed his arm out of fear, taking a moment to see many shocked faces looking at her. Their armor was scarily similar to hers, although her set was not splotched with mud coloring and was more metal than cloth.

The pressure on her throat loosened slightly to where he was hardly holding her, but had enough grip to keep her suspended in the air. Summoning her memory of the English language, she said, "P-please don't let him h-hurt me." She added on to it by willing her eyes to well up with tears. It took all of her self-control to not smile in pride as their weapons slowly lowered.

Zhar growled as he took a step forward, pleased that the Humans were smart enough to move out of his way. He glanced at each of them as he went past, never once allowing them to be completely out of his sight. It wasn't until he got to the end of the hall and verified the way was clear before he took off in a full sprint away from the squad.

He let her down after a few minutes of running and ducking into one of the service ducts. "Are you alright, Kira?" After she nodded and began rubbing her neck, he continued, "I apologize for that. I could not think of an alternative way past them without alerting more of them or getting you shot."

"I thought Sangheili did not play the hostage game," she asked, grinning.

Zhar returned the grin. "We do not, but Humans certainly do. You did well playing the part of a helpless victim. Perhaps we should work on that more, at least until you get a proper set of armor."

"Shields would be nice too," she shrugged the rest of the ache off. "Do you know where exactly we're going?"

"They usually keep databases on the bridge and down in engineering. Obviously we do not have the equipment or numbers to take the bridge, but we might be able to get through engineering without being spotted."

"Don't they have security cameras everywhere," the girl questioned. No sooner had the words left her mouth did the lights around them shut down, and click into emergency mode as the backup generator kicked in.

Zhar smiled, "Not anymore." He forced open the service door and followed the oddly colored stickers on the floor to their destination. As he crossed the final junction, his shields on the opposite side of Kira flared with AR bullets pelting him. He roared in anger, turning toward them with his gun and letting the girl go. She gave a shriek and ran off toward engineering, attempting to keep the charade up.

Knowing he could easily hold his own and catch up to her, she stepped just inside the huge room and hid behind what looked to be a storage container. For a moment, she thought of trying to get the information on her own, but quickly shot that idea down when she reminded herself that she had no such knowledge of how to use these computers.

It did not help that the lights were mostly out and she had no idea if she was even alone in there. She shut her eyes tightly, attempting to suppress the panic that someone could be sneaking up right behind her and she wouldn't know it until it was too late. When she opened them again, the world had a tint of purple.

_What in the-? Oh!_ She had forgotten about her other side of training. With everything that had happened, how could she have remembered something that had seemed only like a dream to her? Turning her attention to the real world again, she quickly looked around to take in the room. There were many different energy trails crisscrossing the area, but none looked recent.

The tint faded and she moved from her cover to go to the computers closest to her. Hissing sounded behind her, making her turn to see two of the Human squad members rush in to take cover and reload their weapons. Kira stared, frozen in place. She held her breath, thinking they would leave in a moment.

Her hopes were dashed when one of them turned to look at her; the one who had been closest to her when Zhar had gone past them. "Hey, you okay?"

She remained silent, opting to go for the terrified face again. Her face turned pale when the other soldier spoke up. "Why is her armor marked with Covie symbols? You see that, Kenny?"

Kenny stood with his friend and brought his weapon up. "You workin' with the Split-Lips, kid? Answer me!"

Kira remained still for a second, and then bolted behind cover. The bullets grazed her back; a few hitting the leather straps of her weapons which caused them to break and fall away. She quickly grabbed the handles of her swords and pulled them out, abandoning the rifle as she ran away from her attackers.

She got to the end of the storage container as she brought up her right blade in sync with her stride; it was unfortunate for Kenny's friend that he charged around the corner at the same time and impaled himself on the dark metal, unable to stop in time.

Kira's face widened in shock, not only from the sudden pain in her wrist, but that crimson blood was now pouring out of the man and down her glistening sword. She let the now dead man drop off her weapon, and ran up the lane to hide again. She heard the distinct clicking of a new clip locking into place and then the angry cry of the gold-haired man when she assumed he found the body of his squad mate.

Footsteps hit the ground furiously as he ran up the row, trying to follow where the girl had gone. She slapped herself mentally and reasoned that she would have to strike first at some point if she had any hope of getting out of this alive. The teen primed her ankles to spring, waited a few more seconds, then leaped and brought her left blade up as he passed, taking off his right arm at the elbow.

Kenny screamed, gripping the AR tighter with his left hand and adjusted so that it rested on the trigger. Blood pooled below him as he shouted various profanities she knew not how to translate. He aimed the gun at her, but didn't get to pull the trigger before she slammed her body into his torso, knocking him down, and running both blades through his skull, plus several inches into the plating of the floor in one fluid move.

She yanked the swords out, and stumbled away from the corpse, dropping the blood encrusted weapons before falling on her backside a second later. Reality sunk in; she had _killed_ those men. _She_ had done that. But what choice did she have? Surely it wasn't wrong to defend yourself when your life was threatened?

The doors hissed open again, though she was too focused on the body to notice. Crimson armored arms encircled her shivering form and pulled her to her feet. She looked up to be met with golden orbs once again, finding comfort in them now rather than disapproval. She made her body still itself and leaned down to pick up her prized possessions. It was then she noticed that her arms, torso, legs, and hands were splattered with the cooling red of her attackers.

"Is any of it yours?"

Kira turned back up to the Major, not registering his words. He indicated the mess on her armor and asked again. "No, none of it is mine," she managed to say. "It's theirs," her voice trailed off as she looked in the general direction of the carnage.

Zhar walked into the room and took in the scene. He then went to the Major. "Rkas, is she injured?"

"Negative, sir; just shaken up."

He nodded, and motioned for Kira to follow him after telling Rkas to watch the door. The girl tore her gaze from the scene and soon came to one of the computers where Zhar was already plugging in the data chip and sorting through the files. She instantly shoved the gruesome sight out of her mind and snapped into learning mode to take in every scrap of data it could on how to deal with the Humans' information systems.

When it was finished, he plucked the device from the port and gave it to her to look after. Rkas took the lead and confirmed the route back had been cleared of hostiles… mostly. The stench of death and blood flooded her senses, nearly making her lose her last meal. She forced her eyes shut and had no trouble keeping up with Zhar on their way to the Phantom.

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><p>Wasn't that a <em>lovely<em> note to leave on? xD

If you liked it or hated it, pretty please review it. ;)

And also have this cookie. :3

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	21. Chapter 18

... Yes, I know _exactly_ how much trouble I'm probably in.  
>M.C.O., I have never and never will give up on writing this story. It's just these things called Real Life and Writer's Block keep getting in my way.<p>

This is short, but it's what I have. I know it's been months, and I'm incredibly disappointed in it myself.  
>If any of you are left, I am so very sorry that it has taken this long, and I must also say that I have reached a decision.<p>

I will not be posting new updates for MaOF until I have completed it, or until I feel I have enough chapters stocked up and have a good enough flow to keep to my original promise of an update a month. I simply cannot keep up and I don't want anyone to think that I've abandoned this to rot. **That is not the case!**

As I said, I will _never_ stop writing on this story until it is over, but it will be a long time yet before I can regain what writing ability I have lost during this block.

I hope this chapter is somewhat acceptable for an update..

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><p>"Well done, Kira Asumee. Your assessment has concluded, and we are pleased with the results," Truth said upon hearing the success of their mission. "We will call again for your skills soon enough. I am certain you will prove reliable in time." He dismissed the girl and Zhar before he turned to speak with Mercy and Regret.<p>

Once they had left the room, Regret spoke. "You call that a success? There was hardly any data on that chip worth looking over at all!"

"As I would expect," Truth answered. "The Humans are getting smart and deleting their information before the Sangheili warriors get a chance to board their vessels. I also said that she was to simply retrieve data on this mission, regardless of importance, and she did just that."

"I understand that she also took down two of the vermin herself," Mercy broke in. "Quite messy by the sound of it. That at least proves she is loyal to what she has been taught."

"For now," Truth moved toward his quarters. "Her loyalty, while intact now, could very well change if she is exposed to other Humans too much and forced to kill them. We should refrain from straining it too far for the time being. Until she is of proper warrior age, she will remain on data retrieval missions and accompanied with Sangheili. Do either of you disagree?" Hearing no arguments from either of them, the door slid open and Truth disappeared behind it.

oo00oo

Her sixteenth birthday came and went a few weeks prior to this mission. In the two years since she started going on missions, she had accumulated many missions to disable systems and retrieve any and all information that had been in them. This one was no different to her, though the location was. Apparently their newest target was built on a large asteroid that may or may not have been associated with the human rebels; it was difficult to determine.

The familiar order over the speaker alerted her to their approach and her hand quickly went to her swords, leaving a shiny Plasma Rifle strapped to her belt. The violet door opened and the sound of whizzing bullets immediately filled her ears as the Sangheili filed out to take on their opponents clad in olive. The girl herself was in a new set of armor colored black with a very dark gray suit underneath. The armor itself was polished, but not shiny, much like her blades. She drew them from their sheath and followed after her father figure down a vacant hallway while the humans were distracted with the rest of the party.

They had long since abandoned the hostage act when she had fully come to terms with what going on missions truly meant. Kira knew now that all information had a price of some kind; in this case it most likely meant lives. She still disagreed with said price, but she could live with it if she had to do it through self defense. The pair quickly dispatched anyone that crossed their path and found the engineering room a few decks down abandoned as usual.

The teen began accessing the computer and discovered the base had no A.I., and likely no one watching the systems for hackers. _A rebel base_, she decided. She grinned as it meant it would be almost too easy to take all the information her data chip could hold. She handed the chip to her battle partner and started heading back to the ship. It wasn't until she and Zhar were one deck away from their exit on their way back that they ran straight into trouble. Standing before them was a pair of humans just a head shorter than the average Sanheili in sage colored armor, likely male, and they had AR's pointed at them.

One hesitated to pull his trigger, leaving Kira enough time to drag Zhar down a service hall to their left by his elbow. The new targets gave chase and remained only a few feet behind even after the older warrior began firing his Plasma Rifle. The pair burst from the tunnel and ran to the next room toward the last staircase between them and their escape.

Just before they could set foot on the stairs, the entire base rumbled above; the shaking was enough to knock them and their pursuers to the ground. The thick windows of what they recognized as an observatory revealed UNSC ships had also found the rebel base and were unloading MAC rounds on it. Kira turned to look behind for the sage armored humans, but found that they had vanished from sight. Seconds later, another landed a hit somewhere higher up the base, prompting Kira to her feet and running up the stairs.

At the top she was stopped short by a forest of wires hanging out of the ceiling that were sparking at the end. The floor was littered with crumbling panels and melted metal as well as fresh blood. Footsteps followed quickly behind them up the stairs, and as eyes met visors once again, a MAC round collided with the escape vessel just down the hall. The force of both explosions sent the young teen sprawling straight into the mess of electricity and metal.

oo00oo

Time slowed as the human dressed in black fell in front of him. The first thing he heard after her arm struck the wires was a scream of pain, then a roar of anger from the alien that he recognized from many years ago. He ran straight past the threat to the other fighter they had been chasing; his partner unloading rounds into the shield the surrounded the Zealot. He knew the girl did not have much time if she wasn't breathing, and the enemy knew it as well.

Jake left him no choice but to flee went the shield finally gave. The older warrior gave a final roar of anger and sadness before leaping down the stairs and looking for an alternative escape route. Jake looked back to Tom asking, "How bad is it?"

"If we can get back to the Pelican, she might have a chance." He picked up Kira and slung her over a shoulder. "She's breathing, but she has massive burns on her arms, and who knows what damage the shock did to her."

"Well Nina said get out or get roasted two minutes ago, so let's get going!" The jokester took the lead back downstairs and through another service tunnel that opened up into a docking area. They both hopped in the back of the craft and sealed the hatch as another explosion shook the base. The craft pulled away from the base and flew back towards the ship that brought it here.

The entire trip back, Tom was only aware that the Covenant had gotten away with a lot of data, the rebels on the base had been wiped out, and that the girl he had dragged back here was too damn similar to his lost friend to shoot her.

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><p>And that's that. Kira is now being taken back to the UNSC, but her welcome home won't be so welcoming.<br>I am truly sorry that I have to essentially put this on hold until I finish it, but I just cannot find the drive to write for Halo right now. I may instead write one shots for other games or something of the like just to write.  
>I will state this again for those that may have missed it the first two times...<p>

**_I am NOT abandoning this story!_**

It's simply not going to be updated until I have plenty more written in a presentable manner for uploading.  
>If you stuck around this long, then I thank you. Thank you so much. :3<p>

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